Track Review: Cults – “Abducted”

Fifty years later the ’60s live on, and Cults are giving us a reason to get excited about the wall of sound again. “Abducted” is yet another impressive cut from their eponymous debut that marries their distinct variety of cute summer pop with marred, shadowy lyrics, anchored by Madeline Follin’s iteration of the haunting refrain: “it tore me apart, ’cause I really loved him.” If the sweetly naïve tracks we’ve seen from Cults so far exemplify the innocence of being young in a simpler time, this marks the transition into the disillusionment of young adulthood. The fuzzy lo-fi intro sounds like a transmission from half a century ago, creaky, decaying and nostalgic, with tiptoe xylophones acting as the only discernable instrument in the mix. Once the full band joins in, there’s a newfound leanness that plays as a sonic progression instead of a step backwards.