With their shimmering synths and indulgently decadent production draped over sunny Los Angeles-in-the-mid-1970s melodies, Cut Copy are the everyman's indie dance band. As popular as the band is, it's probably safe to say most of the attention's directed toward lead singer Dan Whitford or collaborator Tim Goldsworthy. Their bassist, Ben Browning, evidently has something to say, though, and he follows his first single "I Can't Stay" from late last year with a full-fledged EP, Lover Motion.
Ben Browning's solo music isn't too far removed from Cut Copy: With synthesizer contributions from Dan Whitford, this stuff pretty much sounds like Cut Copy minus the Goldsworthy sheen, which is good and bad for Browning. On the one hand, the sprightly disco bounce of "I Can't Stay" feels refreshingly uncluttered, all AM-gold guitars and rubber funk basslines, but his tentative and unremarkable vocals end up way too prominent in the mix. Sounding like a slightly higher-pitched Whitford, Browning's voice is slightly less detached but still anonymously blank-faced, hampered by even more awkward lyrics. Lines like, "this town is full of roads and simplicity," are head-scratchers, and even the chorus feels annoyingly tentative: "I don't want to stay much longer." (Dude sounds like a pushover, and that blandness is a shame over such a sterling, infectious instrumental.)
The same issues bleed into the EP's other two vocal tracks: "Feels Like" has a similar late-period Fleetwood Mac breezy strut tainted by a makeshift melody and lyrics that don't even rhyme, and, well, I'll say no more than: "When are you here/ Are you belonging to me any time?" The chorus reaches for the heavens with a brilliant guitar riff, pulled down by Browning's meekness. "Mistaken Images" goes for more subdued production, and Browning's perfectly multi-tracked croon sounds eerily like Revolver-era McCartney, replete with all kinds of whimsical production flourishes. Exploding into a thrilling post-rock crescendo, it gives a hint at what Browning might be able to do in the future, but he still doesn't sound comfortable in his own shoes.
Intriguingly, the EP's two instrumentals-- what you might assume were otherwise throwaways-- are actually its highlights. The short "Night Dune" is a dramatic cosmic disco journey that sounds like satin pillows and goose down, betraying a melodic delicacy lacking from Browning's ham-fisted vocals. Lover Motion closes with the five-minute instrumental blowout "Bullet Island", which could have been an unfinished track from Zonoscope with its post-punk guitar stabs and gorgeously fanned arpeggios. That's a compliment, sure, but it also doesn't sound like anything new: Browning can't seem to escape the confines of his band, and while Cut Copy might be an easy group to love, it turns out it's not such an ideal formula when there are only a few pieces of the puzzle in place.
