Avaliação: ★★★★☆

Acabo de receber o novo álbum homónimo dos Caged Animals, cortesia da equipa Danger Village, e só posso dizer que este disco de estreia de Vincent Cioffe Cacchione, artista conhecido pela banda psych-noir Soft Black, me apanhou desprevenido com a sensibilidade e a beleza das duas músicas.

Admito que o psicadelismo pode ser, por vezes, difícil de engolir. Mas Cacchione, ou melhor Yellow Malrone, o alter-ego fictício que o artista criou para nos levar nesta viagem de texturas felpudas de synths futuristas e vozes cantadas no fundo da sala, fá-lo com uma facilidade própria de dias de Verão.

Gravado no seu quarto na fervilhante Brooklyn, este disco de 12 faixas combina um intricado conjunto de gostos eclécticos, que vão do passado ao futuro, do experimentalismo lo-fi às insinuações folk new-wave, do rock de Hazy Girls (que poderia ter sido uma hidden track dos Empire of The Sun), ao efeito soporífero chillwave de Floating Underground with the Stars ou Desert Island, até aos mais estranhos e alucinados The Way it Feels to Be Hunted (psych-rock cantado por ratinhos) ou Lips That Turn the Light to Fire.

S/T é um disco arrebatador na sua simplicidade despreocupada, intimista e espiritual, mas que chega a ser físico em momentos de desespero, de entrega e alívio, sussurrados em letras pesadas apenas suavizadas pela leveza dos teclados ondulantes e das guitarras atmosféricas, synths espaciais, vocais difusos e ecos perdidos no ar.

I just got the new Caged Animals self-titled album, courtesy of Danger Village team, and I can only say that this debut album from Vincent Cioffi Cacchione, formely known for psych-noir band Soft Black, caught me off guard with the sensitivity and beauty of it’s music. I admit that psychedelia can be sometimes difficult to swallow, but Cacchione, or rather Yellow Malrone, the fictional alter-ego the artist created to take us on this fuzzy textured jouney of futuristic synths and vocals sung in the back of the room, does it in an easy breezy summerish way. Recorded in his bedroom in Brooklyn, this 12-track combines an intricate set of eclectic flavours, ranging from past to future, from experimental lo-fi to new-wave folk glances, from the soft-rock Hazy Girls (which could have been a hidden track from Empire of the Sun) to the soporific chillwave effect of Floating Underground with the Stars or Desert Island, to the most strange and trippy sounds of The Way It Feels to Be Hunted (psych-rock sung by little mice) or Lips That Turn the Light to Fire. S / T is an stunning album in its carefree simplicity, intimate and spiritual, but also physical in moments of despair and relief, whispered in heavy lyrics only softened by the lightness of the swirling keyboards and atmospheric guitars, spaced out synths, diffuse voices and echoes lost in the air.

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Caged Animals – Hazy Girls (via Transparent)

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Caged Animals – Floating Underground With the Stars