Late in the Day – Cazimi (reviewed by T. Bebedor)

The music of Cazimi is a cleverly pieced cocktail of grunge, rock, indie rock and metal. Sure there are bands like ‘Echo and The Bunnymen’, ‘The Stranglers’ and ‘Hawkwind’ listed as soundalikes, and they are pretty on the nail but it misses out the overall vibe of the music as being a bit shoe-gazey, a bit melancholic but well put together and its reassuring to know there is music being made elsewhere than via a laptop by a fourteen year old boy in LA.

The core of the band is the usual suspects of two guitars, bass, drum with vocals being shared between three of the band, one on lead while the others add backing. We have things like Pessimonium VCO, Optimatron and Monomanium 8000 listed, what these are, I don’t know, I’d like to think they are synths or effect pedals, but not being from the Planet Smoog it all seems a little alien to me…

What I do like is the way it’s put together, the artwork hints at a 1930’s era jazz band, all sepia tones and art deco design, a photo of a steam train betrays this idea immediately on hearing the music, and, to be fair, that’s where we should be judging the album.

So, what do you get?

Well, we immediately get guitar riffs, strong drum beats and a bass that thunders through opening track ‘Light Entertainment’ before Ian Hedley’s vocals come through, it’s a little Ozzy Osbourne in delivery, not croaky, raspy or aggressive but clear, informed and fitting for the music. Track two is where the grunge reference comes in, chugging bass set against Asian-sounding guitar lines. ‘Ghost in The Machine’ sums up the atmosphere of the album perfectly – it’s also worth noting the song appears twice on the album, once abridged and once at the end of the album at twice the length.

The album feels like the results of the band members collective record collection, there are hints of The Jam (particularly on ‘Still Future’) AC/DC (on ‘Lost and Found’) and RHCP (on ‘Blackbird’).

I would have liked more variation in the song openers, it seems most songs start with the guitar riff and then the band kick in when a 1,2,3,4 oomph would have been good, but this is a teeny tiny negative, a bit like finding a speckle of dust on the bannister, no one really cares. This style of music isn’t meant for someone wearing white gloves to pick apart each individual facet. Listen, take it in, enjoy or move on. The band will find a strong audience with this album. Give it a go for yourselves….