Cadets - Absolute Pressure

Cadets 

Absolute Pressure
self-released; 2014


3.5 out of 5


By B PArker

Garage rock duo Cadets has released a pair of EPs prior to Absolute Pressure. Members Zachary Schroeder and Philip Hirzel recorded the album while in separate states, using the Internet to collaborate and compile the album. The resulting effort is a lo-fi full band sound.

The music of Absolute Pressure is largely a drums-and-guitars experience; the beats are as much a driving force as the oft-buzzing electric guitar. There are at times brief blips of keyboards, though they're never really the focus. In fact, some of the sounds used were a bit jarring at first, sounding more like sci-fi effects than the norm. But this quirk quickly engrained itself with the rest of the soundscape, offering a counter balance to the wall of sound crafted by everything else. 

The lyrics to the songs are typical young adult struggle fare commonly found in pop-punk. There's a lot of fighting one's demons, ghosts in the form of memory, leaving home, returning home, self-doubt, drinking, etc. I think it's meant to be redemptive but very few of the songs take that turn before they reach their conclusions. All that said, there are some great images and ideas at play if you pay close attention. The song “Symmetry,” for example, uses ambiguous descriptions to paint the narrator and those around him as ghosts in both literal and figurative terms, closing on the lines “but I can imagine/that you're doing the same thing wherever you are/and that you're creating symmetry from far away.” This sort of poetry bubbles up from time to time over the album's run.

Perhaps the best element of Absolute Pressure is how many of the songs perform a complete tonal shift and change gears. These are the sorts of theatrics in music I really enjoy, and Cadets do not disappoint. Some are simple, like with the frantic opener “Sink.” After two verses the pace of the song drops as the guitar gets drenched in fuzz, strumming out a head-bobbing melody. Longer songs like “Sorry” (which clocks in at nine--nine!—minutes) take on more transitions and hit upon multiple moods. These are executed seamlessly and do a lot to grab your attention.  

As alluded to earlier, Cadets recorded the album on their own in-home studios. As a result things sound a bit rough around the edges from time to time, particularly with the vocals. Such things are to be expected when self-recording, however, and thankfully it's not a major detraction and, after your second or third listen, will likely sound natural amongst all the other sonic elements. Worth checking out for DIY enthusiasts and garage rock fans alike.  

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