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According to press release mythology, Cryptacize got their name when Nedelle Torrisi said it whilst brushing her teeth alongside housemate and presumed paramour Chris Cohen. What is sadly not recorded is whether she was in fact singing along to Alexander O’Neal’s 1987 smash hit Criticize at the time but I like to imagine so.
I also like to imagine a world in which a band formed by a former Kill Rock Stars artist (Torrisi), departed Deerhoof guitarist (Cohen) and a guy they spotted playing a cowbell on YouTube (Michael Carreira) aren’t a wilfully anti-tune wankfest. Luckily for once, the world in my head matches the real one.
Sure, the 11 vignettes which make up ‘Dig That Treasure’ aren’t exactly pop gems but they all combine their component parts to end up with a greater sum. Short choppy four note guitar riffs jostle with zithery autoharp and skittering percussion as songs withdraw from view and then dart back into life like a viper’s tongue. There are frequent moments where the instrumentation vanishes suddenly, leaving the players enough space to add the neatest touches, like Ruud Gullit in his prime and pomp.
The finest moments come when Torrisi coyly unveils her warm, sonorous voice a little more though. The Shape Above and Willpower benefit greatly from this but it’s We’ll Never Dream Again that has the greatest impact. From innocuous beginnings, Torrisi suddenly cuts across Cohen and stops your heart with the anguished line “Oh, no amount of power ever could replace, the way he said my name, the smell upon his face. Oh, no, I will never dream again.”
Having picked my heart back up off the floor, I’m willing to overlook the fact that Cosmic Sing-a-long sounds like it was written for or by an enthusiastic 8 year-old, or that the noise of my neighbour haphazardly shearing his hedge whilst I listened to this appeared to complement the music. This is a little treasure well worth digging up.
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