Whales In Cubicles’ debut album, ‘Death In The Evening’ is a ten track strong piece that flows between tales of lost identity, always being out done and struggling society. Some full on stuff for a debut I would say.
WiC are a post punk three piece now residing in London, described as Pavement-via-Blur, they have been steadily been gaining momentum since their singing to indie label Young and Lost Club in 2012. Stef Bernardi, originally from Italy, is the bands singer-songwriter frontman. He dropped out of school in Italy and bought himself a one way ticket to America – to follow his lifelong dream of becoming a musician. Once there he slept in hostel for a while until he bumped into fellow bandmates Jamie and Alex, “I was doing all sorts of things in America, I went on a journey to find myself. I bumped into them (Jamie and Alex) at a Dismemberment Plan show and we just connected.”
Opening track ‘Yesterday’s News’ kicks off the album with distorted guitar riffs as crashing cymbal’s bring the rest of the band into the mix, dropping back to reveal our first glimpse of Bernardi’s vocals. “Can’t stop myself from wanting you, hard as I try” he croons before a quick thrash of guitar. The chorus is simple yet effective, making the track seem like the lost child of many early 90’s bands.
‘All The Pretty Flowers’ is the latest single to be taken from ‘Death In The Evening’, it starts out as an acoustic and atmospheric guitar as the deep tones of Bernardi reflect nicely against the sharp guitar strings. There are some nice lines here “All the actors in the world are slamming doors behind him… and the rest are going back to sleep”, the chorus breaks to reveal a satisfying simple riff/ solo thing. It’s a nice little track that could easily had a dark to story, “I really hope that kid pulls through”.
Whales In Cubicles’ album ‘Death In The Evening’ is a decent debut channelling Guided By Voices and many other early 90’s acts but there isn’t much variety to the tracks, all being down trodden tales.