Recently joining Wichita Records, London-based quartet Cheatahs have released their second EP entitled Sans. A fuzzed-out pop collective with stoned riffs reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr and psychedelic heavyweights before them, this young shoe gaze band are poking their heads through the music industry and dedicated listeners bound to hold them up.
With solid foundations evidently built upon a strong grunge influence, Sans is evidence of the band’s impressive, collective songwriting skill. Originally beginning as a bedroom solo project of Nathan Ernest Hewitt (the founding member of the band who obviously has Nirvana’s Nevermind and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless in his ‘most played’ list), Cheatahs do cast a British grunge shadow, yet not a boring one – but one you play around with and keep letting yourself get distracted by.
Opening track, ‘The Swan’, is littered with fuzz guitar and prog rock overtones, setting the scene for an EP that will mostly likely only receive criticism for being too short.
The title track breathes a heavy breath of interest with a radio friendly vibe, while breaking high fidelity guitar freak outs ring politely and positively, in comparison to thousands of suppressed shoe gaze expressers before them, this band have sure got their act together.
The fourth and (sadly) last track ‘Flake’ finishes off Sans with a positive pop-inspired outlook on the band’s overall soundscape, that compliments the group’s alternative direction as a whole. But what bumps these guys above the rest of the grunge revival is not only well executed high fidelity sound quality, but free flowing original expression.
The band’s solid structured influence as a whole puts the Sans EP above the majority in its category and politely into the hands of listeners who don’t know what they’re being served. And hey, it may have been too short but that was only because it was so damn tasty to begin with.
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