Cut Copy - Zonoscope 93/100

Remember the first time you did something out of your comfort zone and loved it almost to a fault? Perhaps you jumped off a thirty foot bridge, drunkenly boxed a friend or hooked up with somebody you never considered in such a way. Imagine those feelings and apply them to a band making exotic music that sounds like a failure waiting to happen: electropop meets dancerock with regular guitar appearances by a bunch of dudes from Australia. Put caution to the wind and either jump off the ledge, take a swing or give in to the advances of Zonoscope.


The album opens at a steady pace with "Need You Now" consisting of a baritone chorus and slow-burning beat that shows restraint while still inviting all to the dancefloor. Wisely the guys bleed into first single "Take Me Over," a club ode to "Land Down Under" by Men At Work. Rarely does a record start so strongly without tipping its hand too much. Somehow they improved on the expert pacing from In Ghost Colours by using even more variations in their beat-infused rock. Nothing represents this more than the glimmering opening to "Pharaohs & Pyramids," which provides the listener with a short respite from the groove. Once the 4/4 bass drum kicks in after 30 seconds however, your body will move for the remaining five minutes. "Where I'm Going" marches along beautifully with a steady handclap underneath soaring "OOOs" that would make any pop producer jealous.

One of the strongest qualities of the album comes from the allotted space given to each track. Allowing "Pharaohs & Pyramids" to go 3:45 until the enormous payoff makes its final two minutes all of the more orgasmic. The fist pumping palm mute of "Blink And You'll Miss A Revolution" chugs along while snyths weave in and out to create the perfect backdrop for a party with both people dancing in the kitchen and smokers shit talking outside, all bobbing their heads to the rhythm pounding inside. "Alisa" features a smattering of guitars fed into effects pedals answered by New Wavey snyth lines and strings. Quite frankly, this sounds like the music Trent Reznor wishes he made on With Teeth if not for his inability to move past mashing at instruments while juxtaposing it against his pop sensibility.

Fortunately Cut Copy leaves room for the two best songs at the back end of Zonoscope. The first, "Hanging On To Every Heartbeat," could become a hit in any decade after the 80s. The slinky bass line sets up a funky acoustically strummed figure 8 that turns into the most dazzling melody of the year. Singer Dan Whitford uses his gorgeous falsetto on the lyrics "hanging on to every heartbeat" and answers with a lower registered "satellites in the sky" that resounds so profoundly it's hard to believe human beings created it. By finishing the record with the 15 minute tour-de-force "Sun God," the group stakes their claim among the most important bands in their genre and quite possibly independent music. Very much in the vain of like-minded artists, "Sun God" evolves just below the surface for more than half of its duration, offering just enough to keep admirers interested until blowing up for the perfect resolution to the song and album proper.

Admittedly, Cut Copy makes music outside of any singular format, even by the standards of today. Yeasayer and anybody remixing Phoenix just saw the bar raised to a nearly impossible height. Anyone not claiming to be a dance rock enthusiast may brush this off as another convoluted mess by a band too focused on the decade in which they were born. Fight that urge and give Zonoscope its due attention. You will discover incredibly gifted minds attempting to build a bridge over the emptiness between art and danceable music and an early contender for album of the year in the process.