The Cold War is a band that, unlike the arms race named after it, is not about containing or defeating communism. Not that they´re communists, mind you--that would be un-American. And though they may sound British, the Cold War is nothing if not American--Americans who sound like Brits sometimes.
The propulsive and dark bass lines and jangle-and-hum guitars of the Cold War recall Echo and the Bunnymen at their middle peak, Head on the Door-era Cure, The Chills, and Chameleons U.K. Their songs swoon and sing like a ship´s tender frame, screaming from beneath the waves. The lyrics speak of dangerous breakups, drinking, infidelity, ennui, and mutually assured nuclear destruction. No wait--I was thinking of the other Cold War. But those first things are all in there, and often neatly harmonized.
The Cold War live and breathe in the murky, abandoned seaport of Providence, Rhode Island. The musicians include members of long lost groups like the L.U.V.s, Jagolinzer, and the Fantastics, all much loved local bands that made music that people loved, and promises they couldn´t keep. With principle songwriter Eric Smith on guitar and vocals, Miguel Sousa on vocals and rhythm guitar, Kevin Bowden on bass, and Pete Lima on drums, the Cold War is half-German, half-Portuguese, and all brilliant. Like the great Portuguese explorers before them, they aim to travel the world and conquer a great many people, but this conquest will be achieved without the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of indigenous people--unless, of course, that becomes necessary. Not that the Cold War are for violence and oppression, they´re just saying: all options are on the table.
Their debut album Le Petit Morte translates as "the little death", or how the French refer to a shivering, shuddering orgasm. This is because like Echo and the Bunnymen and the great Buddha before them, the Cold War seeks to make sex and death seem small and irrelevant by comparison. Their grandeur will make you forget your own mortality; their melodies will ring in your ears for days; and their album will be available to you from 75 or Less Records (www.75orless.com), and in the fall from Providence´s digital label Cozy Music
-John Taraborelli, Providence Monthly Summer 2007
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