Solid debut
Scottish three piece Cuddly Shark’s debut album has a great blend of harsh jaggedness and melodic playfulness, a bit like Fucked Up meets Pixies; a little musically schizophrenic but with often dark and amusing lyrics. The harsh almost punk edge is great; ‘The Punisher of IV 30’ has bouncy beats and Frank black-esque vocals but the insistent guitars sometimes bring to mind old school American hardcore like Big Black, an interesting schism.
OK enough comparisons, the album may have jagged edges and sometimes moments of fuzzy feedback (‘Mannybix’) but the undercurrent is always melodic with some really nice riffs, ‘What Goes Around’ has almost sing along vocals (OK perhaps not the most friendly lyrics though) and danceable guitars. The record changes its approach so often that you never know what will come next, going straight from the manic ‘What Goes Around’ into the tuneful and slightly country ‘Whiteoaks’ freshens things up nicely and then you have the hillbilly-style ‘Boney Fingers’, interesting.
“Cuddly Shark” will at the very least keep you on your toes but in its best moments it’s a fast, manic ride of squalling riffs, screechy, nasty vocals (exemplified by the cracking single ‘The Sheriff Of Aspen Bay’)and fuzzy distortion underpinned with a melodic core. It’s easy to see that this is a record made by three people who love making music, the playfulness is there and the tunes are often intense and manic but it is totally unpretentious and all held together by obvious talent.