Belle and Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo EP
(Rough Trade)
Belle and Sebastian pull three tricks outta their collectively cutesy ass on this second Dear Catastrophe Waitress single, each more offensive than the last:
1. The surprise decision last autumn to pull an LP track ("Step Into My Office, Baby") for a single becomes a trend instead of an aberration with this release. Aside from the obvious commercial maneuvering, it means less new music for your hard-earned dollar, and a $6.99 indie domestic EP ain't no bargain in the first place.
2. The first Belle and Sebastian remix, a needless reworking of the title track. Again, an obvious marketplace move (sucker in more consumers with the added appeal of a Popular Name, in this case the Avalanches) and EVEN LESS new music. Lazy, too.
3. Worst of all, this is the first release by the band to come in anything other than a standard jewelcase. For years they nobly resisted card sleeves and those silly slimline cases the Brits love so much, but now we've got a ratty cardboard digipack on our hands that's just waiting to be scuffed and crushed. Sorry, friend; yer pretty little row of Belle and Sebastian discs don't look so pretty no more.
That's three strikes even before you pop the fucker into your stereo of choice, and things don't get much better from here. "I'm a Cuckoo" is one of the weakest tracks on the otherwise dandy Catastrophe Waitress, a faceless, glossy, cock-pop swinger that realizes the worst possibilities of a Belle & Sebastian/Trevor Horn collaboration. Every time the song struggles to the stunningly inane refrain of "I'm a cuckoo" atop limp brass, it is apparent what a failure-musically and lyrically-this exercise is. Some Nesmith-style twang and a relatively rockin' surf-friendly coda power the superior "Stop, Look and Listen" before all forward momentum is lost with the pointless and tired "Cuckoo" remix. "I Believe in Travellin' Light" is the disc's closing gasp, a quiet slice of tinkle n strum that would've made passable Boy with the Arab Strap filler.
With only two new songs-and those interrupted by the remix-this is the first of the band's nine EPs to really feel like a radio-ready A-side backed by a who-cares hodge-podge of B-sides. These releases used to be noteworthy events in themselves, tidy little wholes with painstaking quality control that were of equal value to the group's albums. But no more. Choppy and of largely inferior quality, I'm a Cuckoo is the sad death-scream of the once proud Belle and Sebastian EP tradition.
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