Album #140: Cold Beat – Mother

• Released: 2020
• Origin: San Francisco, California, USA
• Label: DFA
• Best Track: Prism

There’s something haunting about listening to albums released in late February 2020. That was the last time things, at least in Britain and the US, seemed fairly normal, with the virus a mere “might happen” occurrence going on in a different part of the world.

This is especially the case when it’s a bit of a foreboding record, as is the case with Mother, the fifth album from four piece electronic band Cold Beat.

It’s an interesting LP. I particularly love the claustrophobic, post-punky ‘Prism’. The male and female vocals work really well here, not simply aping each other but doing their own thing, almost as if in conversation.

The largely instrumental ‘Gloves’ and ‘Through’ are dark and driving, and seem a bit more grabbing to me than the lighter and more poppy efforts like ‘Pearls’. ‘Double Sided Mirror’, with notes of Cocteau Twins, made an impression on me too.