Cut Copy : Moments
Mentioning Ibiza defaults to conjuring up images of endless partying on the namesake Spanish island, soundtracked by hours- if not weeks-long mixes of the most upbeat of techno throbs. Weirdly enough, the name of Ibiza’s home archipelago, the Balearic Islands, is lent to a specific sub-brand of electronica meant to cool people down with funk, jazz, and trip-hop elements. In returning to shelves and streaming for the first time since 2020, Australia-based band Cut Copy use Moments to trade the former for the latter, skillfully transitioning from the midnight bounce of indie-dance to 4 a.m. go-home grooves.
In Ghost Colours in 2008 afforded Cut Copy a position at the apex of a second wave of DIY dance music from punk- and post–punk-inspired bands and bedroom musicians. (It seems almost too on-the-nose that Tim Goldsworthy, the DFA producer who helped define the first such wave, produced that album.) Subsequent Cut Copy LPs never quite offered the same power, though, and it felt like they’d fallen behind a curve better navigated by contemporaries like Hot Chip and Soulwax. Moments takes the introspection of 2020’s ambient-leaning Freeze, Melt and pairs it with more fleshed-out arrangements, giving Cut Copy a new sense of sophistication.
Songs such as “Solid” and “Children of Fairlight” bubble over the edge of your speakers, their soft synths and breakbeats quietly waiting to be remixed. We also have the title track and “Gravity” back-to-back, two of the longest songs Cut Copy have recorded. The first of that pair moves from half-time to double-time in the manner of loosely-strung intelligent techno from the ‘90s, while the second has modern EBM conceits in search of a dramatic drop and release. That track and others like “When This is Over” wait so patiently to flourish that they never actually do, comfortable in being so subtle as to tip over into being subdued.
We also have to acknowledge Dan Whitford’s melodic murmurs about friends, lovers, and scenes. At their best these vocals float on his bandmates’ instrumentals, but they sometimes feel disaffected to a fault, where songs like “More Alive” feel like Bryan Ferry had been invited to front Four Tet. So no, there still isn’t a pop moment on Moments that truly overtakes the legend of “Hearts on Fire” or “Lights & Music,” but it’s an album run through with some of the most consistently head-nodding passages of any LP in the Cut Copy catalog.
Label: Cutters
Year: 2025
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Cut Copy : Moments
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