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Album Review
The Medusa Snare Cinderella Squirrel Records
Article written by
Ged M - Nov 25, 2009
The Medusa Snare: Cinderella
What do you get if you cut a worm in two? Nope, it's a myth that you get two worms - you end up with two dead halves. What do you get when you split a decent band? In this case you get two bands both as exciting as the ones that went before. We're still waiting for physical evidence of the Blanche Hudson Weekend (Caroline and Darren) but here is an album from Adam and Rachel already - and just to show there's no rancour in the split, it's released on Darren and Caroline's label.
The Manhattans were always smarter than your average band and Cinderella follows that trend by showing an intriguing depth beneath the noise, from the Satie quote on the sleeve to the Bukowski reference in ‘Low Pilot, Small Fall’. If the genre of “philosophical indie” hasn’t been invented, I’m patenting it now! If you miss the Manhattans, there are still echoes here of their melodic noise tendency (see ‘This Is Not A War’) but Adam and cohorts bring in a wider spectrum of influences (Guided By Voices, Pavement, the Flying Nun stable) to create fast and melodic indiepop with balls. It’s rockier - check out the strobing guitars of ‘Out Of The Blue’ and the mesmerising pace of ‘NCY’ - though those aspects never overpower the song. Every track has something to commend it but ‘Blow’ is the standout, an irresistible riff-tastic end (with shades of ‘Shot By Both Sides’) to a brilliant debut. This Cinderella needs no fairy godmothers or princes charming to make it stand out.