The Cape Of Good Hope - Arts & Crafts (Treat Records)
2/5
By: Dean Driscoll
With their debut mini-album 'Arts & Crafts', Stafford four-piece The Cape Of Good Hope appear to be a band not yet sure of their musical identity. At various points over the course of these five tracks (clocking in at over half an hour) they touch on Hell Is For Heroes hardcore, Mars Volta's wig-outs, classic rock influences such as Led Zeppelin, and The Automatic's humour. Admirable though the ambition is, it makes for a frustrating listen, as The Cape Of Good Hope switch around styles at the expense of cohesive song structure.
There are some good moments here in opening brace of songs 'Nicholas Gordon James D'Arcy Hawkes...' and 'Peepshows & Discos', but they lose their way by the time you reach 'The Idea' - a track which seems less like the twelve-minute opus they no doubt aimed for than merely bits of several different songs stitched together. Things pick up by final track 'Ba-Da', though not before you have to negotiate the abysmal '"You're Drunk" "Your Sexy"'.
There is promise here: enough to suggest a good live band in the making and one that will benefit from sharper production further down the line. But for now The Cape Of Good Hope need to decide which band they are and concentrate on getting the art of songcraft down pat before they indulge themselves in their prog-rock fantasies. They're at their best when they concentrate on the emo-inflected hardcore - more of that and less of the genre-hopping and we could have ourselves a band to keep an eye on in future.
Stream two tracks from 'Arts and Crafts' HERE.
Artists in this article: The Cape Of Good Hope
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