Cults - Offering

„Ach, da ist eh nur Disko drauf…“, sagte Oliver zu „Static“ und verweigerte dem zweiten Album von Cults eine Bewertung (bzw. ersparte sie dem Duo), obwohl er deren Debüt noch 8 Punkte gegeben hatte. 

Was wird er wohl zu „Offering“ sagen? „Ach, da ist eh nur Synth-Pop drauf…“ oder „Ach, mögen Madeline Follin und Brian Oblivion wohl auch die 80er…“ oder „Ach, können also doch noch tolle Pop-Songs, wie „With My Eyes Closed“ oder „Good Religion“ beweisen…“ oder „Ach, das ist mir alles zu fröhlich und farbig hier…“ oder „Ach, da fällt mich ein: Wann kommt endlich das neue Album von den Chromatics?“.

In 2017, Cults are offering a new set of buttery tracks guided by Follin’s beautiful falsetto. On Offering, her voice is as sticky as ever, even when she reminisces over lost loves in ‘Right Words’ or is in a drift for ‘With My Eyes Closed’. The band found a cute niche in ‘60s girl group sounds once upon a time, however, that isn’t the case on Offering. Follin and Oblivion abandon 1964 for 2064 like on ‘Nothing Is Written’, a song dripping in synths and organs from another world. ‘Clear From Far Away’ has these heavenly delights too, but at times its smoke and mirrors. Cults have yet to carve a space that they're completely comfortable with. Though for them, it’s the journey that teaches you about the destination. Cults keep bouncing around through sound, with each stop stranger than the last. Though, the stops are welcomed offerings of tight, enjoyable dream pop.(beat)

Listening to the pristine, comfortable electro-pop of Offering, and glancing at its more than Spoon-like cover art, it's a bit hard to remember what made Cults feel different on their first album: but does this instantaneously have to be a bad thing? (…)All in all, Offering is well suited to its release date, the perfect contented collection of pop vibes to kick back with as the fall readily approaches. Whether listeners at large follow will mainly depend on their willingness to accept Cults in their current incarnation. But, if one accepts the mission statement, there's plenty of fun to be had here, even if it can't help not quite measuring up to past hype.(The 405)