Cheatahs

With the guitars front and center, and frequently overpowering the vocals, Cheatahs almost feels like a response to the apparent decline of guitar rock as the dominant sound in alternative and mainstream music. But it doesn’t feel reactionary, either. The songs come from a place of enthusiasm, not vindictiveness.

There’s no question, then, that this record’s a throwback, but it’s hard to complain when a band manages to pack so many different influential touchpoints into one album

Vast, clamorous, and curiously beautiful, Cheatahs recalls a time and place that isn't necessarily 2014, but does so with such skill and élan you'd be a fool not to meander through time and space with these sounds.

Cheatahs’ debut neatly avoids the old shoegazing pitfall of drowning weak melodies in oceans of shimmer, coming on as hazy but hook-strong as early Teenage Fanclub. 

Cheatahs have certainly delivered on the promise suggested by their stellar early EP’s, taking their sound in a spirited, well-worn direction that more than suits them.

It feels like a celebration, rather than an appropriation, and it’s one that should win over anybody who looks back fondly on the days of universal flannel shirts and ubiquitous Fender Jaguars, whether they were actually alive at the time or not.

It's never boring, the dynamism of the tracks means they all have a sense of motion. It's just, after a while, there doesn't seem to be a destination in mind.