ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 7TH 2011
1YRON’S TOP 52 RECORDS OF 2011 RANKING: #14


Listening to In Ghost Colours for the first time, it’s probably advantageous to remember where you are or what you’re doing. Cut Copy’s second release is the kind of nostalgia-inflected, synth-brimming juggernaut that sounds fantastic no matter what’s going on around you, the kind of record that can lift your mood with any one of its fifteen tracks. Just like all great pop music, In Ghost Colours connects the heart with the feet and forms an inextricable bond between itself and the listener. I first heard it in Mexico at the start of 2009, the vocals of Dan Whitford defining my visit and all the wide-eyed exploration of the unknown that came with it. I came back to London and a week later the country was in the grip of ice and snow. It still sounded absolutely fantastic, even making my weekly commute from Wood Green to New Cross on the overground to work for free for artists in their damp, chilly studios a joyous experience. For me, memories of this time are intrinisically linked to this record and this record alone. For the best part of 2009 it never left my playlist, so it’s with great anticipation that I and many others awaited its successor.


A year on from the release of Zonoscope reveals just how well it has been absorbed into Cut Copy’s continually expanding sonic foundations. Upon first listen, it can sound like a series of short bursts of creativity which anti-climax as they take flight. It’s true that unlike Colours, Zonoscope never truly soars. There’s an initial feeling that Zonoscope is a more conscious effort to recreate the happenstance of the former record’s fluidity, but these issues are resolved through time and a patient ear. Whilst it may not be as great as Colours, Zonoscope feels more willing to take risks by venturing into rockier, most percussive territory. Lead single Where I’m Going is one such example as drums tumble around twinkling synths amid rising vocal chants. It’s the most acoustic Cut Copy have ever sounded but it’s an important aspect to Zonoscope, and creeps through onto others such as Blink And You’ll Miss A Revolution with its skeletal framework built around xylophones, or the lightning shock of This Is All We’ve Got and Alisa. Both tracks share a similar feeling of time and space, exponentially expanding upon their humble beginnings as their choruses take hold at first, then again, before crashing in a blaze of drum beats.


Zonoscope’s eleven tracks are divided by the heady breathlessness of the instrumental Strange Nostalgia For The Future. Much like We Fight For Diamonds or Midnight Runner, its inclusion serves to add literal breathing space between the hook-heavy anthems directly before and after. It’s common for these instrumentals to rise near their completion, which suggests that not only do they cool down the fire of the previous track but fan the flames for what comes next. As the only instrumental track on Zonoscope, it works to divide the record’s electro-sleek first half from its spacier, far-flung second half. That first half opens with the truly stunning Need You Now, where frontman Whitford proves his chops at building a song to its dramatic finale without so much as a murmur. The entire thing escalates from a lightly pulsating intro to synth-spangled crescendo and there’s not one second which feels like a retreat. Take Me Over follows, a song made for summer in the way Feel The Love or Hearts On Fire were and sounding every part the lovechild of Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere and Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al. It’s a blatant steal of everything wonderful about 80s synthpop, but its irresistible bursts of energy make it hard to fault. Pharaohs & Pyramids is a take on classic house, building on the percussion that the band worked so hard to incorporate into their sonic landscape by throwing cowbells into the mix. Keyboards and streams of synths build to a scorching climax, all the while ambient guitar loops swoop in perfect synchronicity. As a result, it’s almost impossible to tell where the electronic ends and the acoustic begins since Cut Copy have so effectively mastered their craft on album number three. Despite their remarks regarding how much of Zonoscope was built up through “ten minute, open-ended instrumental jam sessions just to see what happened,” the end result feels incredibly bespoke.


This claim holds most water on album closer Sun God, which clocks in at just over fifteen minutes, of which only the first four feature any actual singing. Bouncing along crunchy synths, Whitford and Co. ride out along prolonged vocal distortion before exclaiming, “You’ve got to live / You’ve got to die / So what’s the purpose / Of you and I?” From there on synths burn furiously and there’s enough variety in its own minimal fluctuations to entertain for the entire journey. It’s Cut Copy meets Lindstrøm, but if you’ve made it this far then it’s worth sticking around for. Penultimate track Corner Of The Sky feels like a more concentrated version of its successor, a prototype for the extended Sun God given it’s a third of the length and three times as fast. Towards the end, Zonoscope feel stronger, more robust, more athletic and sculpted after the workout of the record’s main bulk of material. Not only does it continually pulsate and scale lofty heights, it also appears to learn from what came before and take it all on board. Of course it’s down to the wonderful process of editing and arrangement, but it’s still marvellous to listen to the record as a whole after one year and feel like it has evolved and grown since its release. Much like In Ghost Colours, Zonoscope can be truly enjoyed at any time of the year. Every song here sounds alive and bristling with creativity, whether running around a park or walking in the country, or around the city beneath skyscrapers. Somehow, through a process that I’ve yet to fully understand, Cut Copy excel in sculpting their music from their surroundings and in turn, as the listener, one’s surrounding are sculpted by their music. Atmosphere and environment are clearly tools that Cut Copy utilise throughout their recording process, but it’s a sign of a band’s talent and genius when what they rely on becomes the very thing they’re seeking to establish in their audience.