American Whip

Around this time last year, American Whip was being treated to the kind of rave reviews that might have suggested it would feature in many people’s albums of the year lists. Problem was, it was never actually released due to label legal wrangles. Those now sorted out, here we are again. The 12-month gap has done little to harm the record, perhaps even enhancing its status as a great ‘lost’ album. The fact too that one of its producers, Kevin Shields, has hit the headlines with the Lost In Translation soundtrack won’t do it any harm – nor will the matter of David Holmes being involved either. Somewhere in the midst of all this are the band themselves, New York duo Vincent Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale. Incredibly, much of American Whip manages to meet the hyped expectations. It sounds just like you’d expect a meeting of classic American underground pop, Shields and Holmes to sound – Flaming Lips style melodies with a warm, experimental slant and huge waves of guitar. The songs are great too, strong enough to make themselves known amongst everything else that’s going on. Cafiso and Tindale share vocal duties, harmonising away to their hearts’ content on ‘Baby You Should Know’ and ‘Out Of The Sun’, the sound of the Mamas & Papas mixed with My Bloody Valentine. It tails off a little towards the end but American Whip is still a fascinating and different little record.