Okay, hands up, who actually knows anything about Cults aside from the fact that they’re a guy and a girl from New York? After almost a year, we still don’t have much information on the duo, but their exquisitely crafted breakthrough “Go Outside” has left them imprinted in our minds, passively cognizant of the potential that stands to be realized. With “You Know What I Mean” Cults take another step towards self-actualization by giving us more of what we loved from “Go Outside:” dreamy production, elegant melodies and dryly romanticized lyrics.
For its first 48 seconds, this plays like a somber 50s pop ballad with reverberating percussion and a nostalgic bassline. “I’m feeling shaky/Tell me what’s wrong with my brain/’Cause I seem to have lost it” laments Madeline Follin, with the youthful ache in her voice drawing from contemporaries like Alexis Krauss all the way back to The Supremes. But once the chorus hits, the swooning instrumentation suddenly morphs into a thumping jam with a beautifully cascading melodic line. It’s about as far from groundbreaking as you can get, but the duo’s understatedly sunny pop disposition puts a stylish twist on a familiar sound.
