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Caves: Not From the 80s

By Brittney ⋅ April 12, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Caves‘ lead singer is not named Cameron Frye. I’m sure, because I checked. Twice. You’ll forgive my persistent confusion of the band’s frontman (who is actually named Jacob Carey) with the Ferris Bueller sidekick, should you ever have the good fortune to see Caves live, for the resemblance really is remarkable. It’s not just the lookalike faces; Carey also shares Cameron’s effortless hipness, bashful demeanor, and eager gaze. I could’ve found all this flashback-iness quite distracting, in fact — if Caves’ music hadn’t captured my full attention.

I admit that for the show’s first moments I wasn’t convinced that Caves were anything more than a temporally-displaced new wave band. (Maybe he WAS Alan Rucke! Alan Rucke’s time-travelling secret identity! Tonight, ladies and gentleman, via a rift in space-time, we present Cameron Frye and CAVES!) But with each song, the group seemed to add a layer of complexity to their music, integrating bongo-style drumbeats, head-bobbing grooves, and a delightfully confident vocal range into their consistently solid pop underpinnings; by the end of their half-hour set, Caves had emerged as their own band. Though they owe obvious debts to the Police and fellow Portland dwellers The Shins, in the end Caves are neither nostalgia group nor indie pop clone. I don’t think their sound has fully matured; their eclecticism could be either expanded or focused to create a style more distinctive than the one they displayed at Chop Suey. But it is this sense of possibility that so intrigues me about Caves — I look forward to finding out who they’ll become.

Next Seattle show: May 30 at King Cobra.

Tags: caves, chop suey