Bows

Cassidy (Too Pure)
by Lex Marburger

Lead singer of Long Fin Killie, violinist for a touring Mogwai, Luke Sutherland is all about whispered, disturbed vocals and lush harmonies with pointilistic drums. Seems like the Killie is over and done with, so he’s moved on to Bows, which takes the sound further, using members of Snowpony, Billie Mahonie, and Mano Poderosa. Mean nothing to you? Doesn’t matter. Take “Cuban Welterweight Rumbles Hidden Hitmen,” a tempo-less crooner guitar/vocal duet that sounds like a female Thom Yorke singing over a discarded Sebadoh outtake. If you listen to the lyrics, you can hear “Punch drunk/Bust mouth and fingers/I flattened an African/They say, ‘Win and we’ll whack you’.” And then it goes on to talk of an imagined menage a trois with two mafia gunmen. Yeah, it’s that kind of album. In the end, Cassidy gets a little too mellow. They could break up the stoner fever-dream with a few shocks to the system. But if you like the dirty sensuousness of being slowly licked by a morning-after tongue, Bows might be your style.
(580 Broadway #1004 New York, NY 10012)