Cold Cave

Wes Eisold is a pretty resourceful guy. A member of hardcore bands like Give Up the Ghost and Some Girls, founder of publishing company Heartworm Press and plagiarized by Fall Out Boy, Eisold has saved his best work for Cold Cave. A collaboration with former Xiu Xiu cohort Caralee McElroy, Prurient's Dominick Fernow and author Max G. Morton, Cold Cave have the right momentum going for them to make Eisold stick to this one project for some time. Following a number of singles, splits, comps and cassettes over the last year, Love Comes Close sees its second release this year after a limited run on Heartworm. Cold Cave aren't afraid to mix heartfelt romance with raw, ghostly production and gothic overtones. If it sounds a bit kitschy it's really not. Though they often sink into some heavy brooding on "Hello Rats," Eisol, even in his Peter Murphy-like monotone, never comes off as histrionic. But what makes Cold Cave so exceptional are the hooks and how they drown everything so perversely in static, like with the amorous, club-friendly title track and the sickly sweet "Life Magazine." Love Comes Close doesn't break any new ground but you'll be amazed at how much the songs can compete with any of your New Order or Depeche Mode twelve-inches.