New York band Cults, that I had already seen at the FYF Fest last year, attracted a huge crowd at Make Music Pasadena. The main stages been set far apart, it was hard to walk from one place to another and catch the musical acts on time, and it was even harder to get in the front with such a dense crowd. So I didn’t get exactly close to watch the duo turned quintet on stage.
Cults’ music has this sweet retro sound, building at each song a catchy power-pop borrowed from the Supremes or some other 60s Phil Spector’s band, with Madeline Follin’s powerful and childish vocals and a few dance groves underneath the apparent ballad style of the songs.
They sang most of the songs of their self-titled album released last year, and each song was apparently a crowd-pleaser as people were cheering up with large beach balloons bouncing over their heads… It was summer sun-soaked music, which runs in your ears, as some sugary honey candy would melt in your mouth.
Wearing a cute white doll dress, Madeline was playing with it or vamping the mic like a dance poll, balancing around it while exercising her powerhouse cords. Even from far away, she looked cute, mixing a screaming energy with her youthful image, charming and seducing the public. There were four musicians around her, and from where I was her brother Richie Follin looked like a clone of her counterpart Brian Oblivion with his white shirt, sunglasses and long brown hair.
From ‘Go Outside’ to ‘Most Wanted’ to ‘Bumper’ to ‘You know what I mean’, they played almost all their songs with this same hit-potential, but Oblivion said at one point that they were making a new record, and that it was probably the last time they were playing these songs in California. Will they be able to keep up with the same sweet familiar and super catchy sound? we’ll see…
Their album opener ‘Abducted’ sounded really great and I rushed just after their last song to catch the next act, but considering the theme of their album, it was just comical that someone, walking along the crowd packed in front of the stage, was handing out some scientology flyers!