Song of the Day: Cults - I Took Your Picture

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Morning Show with John Richards, is “I Took Your Picture” by Cults, from their upcoming 2017 album, Offering, out October 6th via Sinderlyn Records.

Cults - I Took Your Picture (MP3)

After a four-year breather, New York-based Cults and their dream-state synthpop are back in full force. Once partners and now collaborative confidants, Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion's third full-length release, Offering, will be dropping on October 6 via Sinderlyn Records. As a follow-up to their idols-inspired Static, so far Offering's two singles -- "I Took A Picture of You" and the title track -- from the 11-song album demonstrate their most dynamic sound to date. The hybridized style and motifs in their catalog stem from the '60s-flared pop they immediately connected on, a Nicks-Buckingham-esque breakup they mended, and now the eureka-induced shot in the arm of Brian Oblivion's first listen to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon while in the back of a van.

The Floyd-ian psychedelia can be witnessed on some of their 2013 Static, as they were recording Offering the same time they released Static, but on "I Took A Picture of You" they pull out all the stops. Follin's polished and bright, tie dyed vocals ripple over a sea of Metric Fantasies-era synth with a spine-bending riff that bring out a new pathos for Cults. The late twenty year-olds are still the fun, melodically savvy maestros we've known them to be, but exchange a grainy filter with a more 20/20, pop-forward definition. We'll let Oblivion finish us out by stating, from their bio on Sinderlyn, "these songs have both instability and solutions for how to deal with instability. I think my favorite lyric is from 'Took Your Picture': Tinge of blue/To the end/left our hearts/With regrets/I’m learning. That’s as close as you get to a thesis statement for the album."

Cults' new album Offering will be out October 6th and they have a whole coast-to-coast tour queued up for October through November. They're playing Neumos on Tuesday, October 31st, Halloween. Until then, listen to their stunning new title track "Offering" below.