BBC Review
A frenzied, frayed debut – but frequent swearing limits its crossover potential.
Mike Diver 2010-12-08
Sparking with an initially grabbing energy, a desperation that distorts front-screamer Maya’s vocals into a frenzied squeal, Cold in Berlin’s debut album is an everything-up-front release that keeps nothing in its locker for discovery a little later down the line. As one-dimensional as the decisions to translate many a modern blockbuster into 3D, it’s an experience that impresses through passion, but ultimately leaves the listener empty.
Part of the problem is the language – frequent cussing isn’t big nor clever, and Cold in Berlin seem keen as mustard to manoeuvre a wholly unnecessary curse into as many of their songs as possible. So where a band like Blood Red Shoes can pick up Radio 1 plays with fairly similarly styled compositions, this London trio will only ever be a niche concern – late night rather than drive time. What makes the repeated F-bombs all the more frustrating is that tracks like Inertia and Destruction are fiery pop-rockers that could, easily, be absorbed by mainstream audiences. A comparison to The Horrors isn’t so wide of the mark, either, as both groups would seem to be admirers of the goth-tinged aesthetic worn by the likes of The Birthday Party. Fine parallels, all, but Cold in Berlin are let down by self-inflicted lyrical ostracising.
But if you’re fond of your thrills cheap, and your rock ever-so-slightly frayed, Give Me Walls will tick a number of boxes. Every facet plays up to familiarity – the lull in White Horse is only ever going to foreshadow an eruption of noise, the industrial clank of If You Take Me Apart is coupled with an easy-on-the-ear chorus to balance its mechanical grind, and Break My Bones thrashes like several thousand toss-away pop-punk cuts has before. Everything’s performed as well as it should be, and Maya’s on strong form throughout – she’s half Shirley Manson threat, half Karen O feistiness, and full of Energizer Bunny bounce. But the predictability of it all shortens the shelf-life, and the swearing will see radio listening elsewhere for new UK bands worth giving a leg-up to.
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Comment number 1.
At 15:41 12th Feb 2011, Cold_In_Berlin wrote:Nobody reads this beacuse words aren't important.
Or so we thought.
Some reviews of Cold in Belrin have come to light that criticise our singers use of certain words.
Words that can be described by critics as 'language'
When you boil it down CiB are white girl/boy middle class guitar oriented rock.
Despite all our punk ethics we have still produced an album that is essentially listenable.
Harbouring some teenage dream of rebellion I vowed to make music that my parents wouldn't like, but as we're not NWA our music isn't such a barrier to a different generation that we're not speaking to or for.
so what's left?
Our singers voice and her words.
Our singers use of profanity is not only unrelenting it is also unapologetic.
Male singers especially in hip hop do seem to hold the monopoly on profanity - something we seek to reverse. But on this point we have noted opposition.
A minority in the rock press seem to be suggesting that only male performers have the right to swear - that F word or the C word should not be uttered by female lips.
The latter being the most galling as men do not even posses one.
As BBC D.J Jarvis Cocker said "I hate it when people say swearing is the sign of a limited vocabulary. If you use a swear word well, it is big and clever".
We agree and believe it is all about context.
The last decade and this tumultous year so far is the right context and it is words and their expression that holds the key and unlocks Pandora's box.
Tory double-think speaks of how "we're all in this
together"
This exposes how language can be abused to suit those in power, whilst Egyptian protests credited social media and free expression of language as key to their revolutionary success.
We're going to keep singing and swearing so we aren't 'absorbed by mainstream audiences'.
We're swimming up stream against the tide of pseudo liberal morality.
We're not speaking your language.
We're kicking against you pricks.
CiB
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