Philadelphia-based duo Cold Court have released their debut EP, \ (^_^) / (aka HANDS UP).
Made up of sibling co-producers and songwriters Mini Serrano (she/her) and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado (he/him), the EP comes absolutely screaming out of the gate, unapologetically eclectic and with screeching vocal power to boot. The energy is palpable, and the mish-mash of styles is as maximalist as its possible.
“We created without inhibition or concern for genre or era,” says Jojo Lavina-Moldonado. “We approach it more like a painting; we didn’t want to be another band, we wanted to be Basquiat. We were in our neo-expressionism bag.”
There was huge potential for this intense mix of musical styles to be a complete mess, but the understanding and maturity with this the Cold Court members bring to the EP is completely intoxicating. It’s loud, it’s groovy, it’s absolutely caterwauling madness at times, but despite that, HANDS UP is an exercise in why restraint can be totally overrated when it comes to making art.
Every sample is perfectly used, which is to be expected from a duo that styles themselves as ‘no-wave noisemakers’. This utter refusal of genre could very well be something of its own, but it doesn’t seem like Cold Court are too bothered about finding a specific name for it. The whole EP is like Justice and Squarepusher got shoved into a blender alongside Talking Heads, mid-2000s emo, late 90s grunge, with a good helping of Ginger Baker on top for good measure. It all feels very futuristic while still being gorgeously precise.
This feels particularly true on “Cola”, the final single that was released before the full EP. It was the last song the siblings wrote for the EP, and features syncopated rhythms and fuzzy vocals coming together to create a kind of alternate reality dance-pop track. Another stand out is “Glass”, which features some really great hooky bass playing, and some absolutely crashing percussion loops alongside a surprisingly jangly guitar melody.
Cold Court have the identity of a band who’ve lived through a thousand lifetimes, collecting every little piece of music they’ve ever loved and wanted to create with, and that’s created something genuinely special on HANDS UP.
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