Cults attracted a lot of people at the FYf fest Leonardo’s stage, and despite the hype, I liked them a lot. OK, their sound is very nostalgic of the 60s (once again), Madeline Follin’s sweet vocals lies between Diana Ross’ and Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss’ (I’m talking about the vocals not about the eardrum bleeding beats), but their poppy melodies were extremely catchy, and their use of synths (there were two on stage) and electronics was a very enjoyable live experience.
Madeline, who was holding her short black dress and rotating her hips while singing in a very cute way, said they had just got of a plane from London 2 hours ago, which seemed impressive knowing too well what 10 hours in a plane can do to you, but her voice did not seem to suffer a bit.
While Brian Oblivion was alternating between guitar and synth and sometimes participating to the vocals, she was definitively the cute thing and the center of everyone’s attention.
And catchy tunes? The word is actually weak, as all their songs were memorable, with this sunny bright appeal, and Follin’s child-like voice sounded like an up-to-date Phil Spector’s girl group production. This was more than obvious when they played ‘Never Heal Myself’, the song when she deliciously sang ‘But I could never be myself / So fuck you’,
Toward the end of the set, Madeline introduced her brother Richie James Follin (from the band Guards) who joined her and Brian on stage for a few songs, and after a dance song (it may have been ‘Bumper’ that they interpreted in duo), she dedicated the next one ‘Rave on’, ‘to you all ravers’,… a wilder side among too much cuteness.