Cults – To The Ghosts review

It’s more than a little niche over thirty years on, but the Twin Peaks spinoff movie Fire, Walk With Me featured two of the twentieth century’s most influential figures of art, music and beyond. In it there’s a typically weird cameo from David Bowie, who plays Special Agent Phillip Jeffries, whilst Lynch himself appears as Gordon Cole, Dale Cooper’s boss.

One is no longer with us but left a unique legacy, whilst Lynch’s film career and Twin Peaks in particular seem to resonate more as they’re introduced to subsequent generations. Take for instance Hung The Moon, the final track on Cults fifth album. In describing it one half of the duo Brian Oblivion owns up to the ‘Twin Peaks, roadhouse vibe’, going on to further reveal their ultimate intention to be making ‘A sweet nursery rhyme set to an ominous tone.’

To The Ghosts finds Cults on an upswing, their list of high profile collaborators long and popularity unchecked. In places as with the filmic Open Water’s bygone horns and the arty synth pop of Eat It Cold the appeal is obvious, one ultimately cemented by Onions, whose majestic electro-fuzz echoes peak of their powers MGMT. Some of the rest however (Crystal, Knots) floats too easily by, the kind of comfortable art which Lynch – and Bowie – frequently eschewed in favour of leaving you off balance. To quote Phillip Jeffries “It was a dream, we live inside a dream”. Here weaving in the occasional nightmare might have woken us up better from our slumbers.

You can read a full review here.