Cult With No Name is a relatively new band formed around 2004 and they come from London in the UK. Their style is self described on their Myspace website as post-punk electronic balladeers. I'll be perfectly honest with you and tell you right from the start that I don't understand the post-punk qualification since they could have also labeled themselves as post-Beatles and I would have never noticed.
Having said that, while they definitely play nothing but ballads, the term 'electronic' makes me wonder as this piece of work is more of a piano based work and it only gets enhanced by electronic keyboard notes and chords. For good or for bad I have got used to associate the term 'modern electronic' to music that has some sort of drum beat which would be more consistent with disco which this album completely lacks.
At any rate, this is an album full of mellow and lush melodies that while never reminding you of pop artists, it also rarely crosses the rock boundary. While I don't want to make an attempt to compare voices, many of the sung structures remind me of a young Elton John when he used to sing against a solo piano. Other times their singing style reminds me of David Bowie in his Hunky Dory or Ziggy Stardust era. Again, only the style, not the actual voice.
Other times the music reminds me of some of the more mellow moments in some of the work of Porcupine Tree without the progressive elements found on the later mentioned outfit. The singing is never loud, but it seems always full of emotion. Rhythms and melodies both border into a simplistic pattern rather than become complicated which makes the music easy to enjoy.
This is a good CD for a sunny afternoon where you want to sit and relax, let the piano melodies carry you through its length and enjoy moments of relative calm without getting too complicated. 7/10
Carlos - Lunar Hypnosis
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