Cuts Both Ways - EP

Album Review

Collecting some remixes of the title track, featured on the Matrimony album, as well as a couple of other numbers, Cuts Both Ways is an engaging enough slice of slick, energetic, and sometimes pretty 21st century indie synth pop. With a lyric celebrating the joys of bisexuality in a way that's both gleefully campy and sometimes serious — think of Book of Love's "Pretty Boys and Pretty Girls" crossed with Blur's "Girls and Boys" — the song is certainly part of a well-established sonic tradition, while Paul Allgood's clipped, nervously passionate vocal suits it beautifully. The remixes are a generally enjoyable bunch, with "Goat Herder Mix" turning the song into a bit of deep house moodiness and the "FCC Compliant Mix" living up to its name with a bit of creative editing. Meanwhile, "Intelligent Design" allows the band to touch on a nice bit of instrumental mood, feeling like the soundtrack to a nervous faceoff somewhere near a dancefloor in a 1984-era thriller, while "Mood Elevator" feels a bit more funky and slow '70s than nervous '80s, all easy grooves and smooth vocals.