Written by Elijah P.
After almost 5 years since their last album “Before The Babies”, alternative-rock 7-piece Cheats talk about everything that’s past after their sophomore album; everything that’s past the lockdown, and everything that’s past the grieving process in their latest album titled “Houseplants”. Housing over 12 tracks and running over at 49 minutes, it took a while for the band to let the songs they’ve written for this album to sit and simmer. Let alone some songs were written when their members were facing turbulent times of their lives, even pre-pandemic.
If their debut was a honeymoon period for indie rockers and their denim jackets, “Before the Babies” were the millennial anthems and wishes that could’ve been, then “Houseplants” is a culmination of the band’s chemistry, both as a musician and non-musician perspective.
Although lengthier and front-loaded than their previous albums, Cheats hold no punches when it comes to writing lines about appealing to a lover, asking for someone to stay even longer or to survive in a tragic event, and so on and so forth. “Houseplants” has all members grow artistically not just individually but also as a unit, especially for the tandem of vocalists Candy Gamos and Saab Magalona-Bacarro; Their layered vocals hit the notes on top of every single textured guitar riffage, possessing every bit of melody that’s been in the playbook of pop songwriting while surfing on a Broken Social Scene-esque template. In tracks like “Cans”, “Honey Calm Down”, “Kapit” and “Hakbang”, vocals shine throughout the entirety of its runtime, gracefully singing every anthemic hook after hook. “Not To Be Alone” and “Cake” are slower and gritty drum machine-assisted tracks where rhythm guitars shine the most. “Houseplants” has it all balanced to a T. But maybe those benefits won’t be able to weigh the actual length that it goes to finish the album in one sitting.
Some tracks like Snooze (Pinto) and “Cashier Club” are slightly meandering and should’ve been cut from the album overall due to its least powerful performances, mostly caused by the anthemic and compelling tracks that come before them. Surprisingly enough, frontman Jim Bacarro takes a bit of a backseat in leading the album vocal-wise. And another surprise to mention is Johnoy’s Danao “Morning After” performance, calling back to The National’s Matt Berninger due to their brooding vocal tone.
Overall, Cheats’ latest offering is a product of the band’s 2-year long wait. It all had the pros of a Cheats song: fuzzed-out guitars ringing in the back, commanding percussion leading the way and most importantly the three vocalists trading every line like it was a sport. And the cons are either the band not slightly surpassing the fervor of the previous albums or the performances that didn’t show any riskier moves or soundscapes. But this was an album or rather a period where everyone took their time to live a little, surviving most of the time. Then you have “Houseplants”, an album that could’ve been released any other time, but instead, it was released at a time where we wanted it the most.
Support the art & the artist:
TFL 