Formed in August of 2007, the San Francisco trio of Jacob Long (bass), Daniel Martin-McCormick (vocals/guitar) and Damon Palermo (drums) has already issued a handful of limited 12" records on Lover's Rock (their own imprint), White Denim, and Hoss (not to mention a remix they did for Telepathe on Merok) as well as their first full-length Watersports and the Echononecho single on Quarterstick/Touch & Go in early 2009.
Their Thrill Jockey debut is a brand new 12" called Cut Men and features two new tracks. Recorded at Lucky Cat Studios (where they also did Watersports) with Trans Am's Phil Manley, both songs were tracked in a single day and mixed the next. The A-side was recorded live with only vocal overdubs. The recording captures the energy and tension of a live performance with stunning clarity. The B-side is a dub. It's a heavy, deep, and oblique re-visioning of the A-side that began as a version but transformed into a song of unique character and energy. Recorded as an extended take, "Out at Night" was later manipulated with slight edits and further dub mixing.
The lyrics to both focus on an alienation with American male/"dude" culture and the barely-repressed sexual violence that informs so much of daily life. "Cut" is slang for muscular and in a pun-like fashion also refers to a desire to see these very same people "cut" down a notch or two, while "Out At Night" reflects the darker hues of the song and the feeling of dread that Daniel gets when walking home from work at night and watching the bars let out. While the lyrics serve as a commentary on the misdirection of male energy, this intensity is used to provide the song with it's own life and energy and is meant to be delivered in a joyful, exuberant and even fun way.
