Cheetahs : 'Warrior'/'Minotaur'
Released: Out Now!!!
Label: Young & Lost
I spent more time brushing my teeth this morning than I did listening to Cheetah’s – don’t take that as a reflection of their abilities, it’s just that the combined length of the two songs on this CD is only just over four minutes. This job is easy sometimes. With titles ‘Warrior’ and ‘Minotaur’ I was expecting an abrasive assault on the ears but instead got a lo-fi treat as Cheetah, or Nathan Hewitt to his friends (unless he makes them call him ‘Cheatah’, I wonder…), takes his time despite the shortness of song presented here.
‘Warrior’ sounds distant, acoustic guitars sitting on top of a simple hook as a relaxed vocal swims between two chords in a simple but effective fashion. Unfortunately for Mr Hewitt the vocal is so obscured by his own bedroom-editing choices that it’s sort of hard to work out what he’s singing on the chorus but otherwise the record works, taking influences and harnessing them into a short but well made piece whose chorus is the definite highlight despite the translation issues. There’s not much I can say about this song and it won’t get anyone that excited but it is intelligent and original and therefore deserves pretty high praise.
‘Minotaur’ keeps to the same formula – not many chords and a catchy hook – but goes beyond its companion in terms of quality. This song has a lot going on in the background but together these sounds slide together well despite their rough edges and the guitar hook grabs back any stray sounds and keeps things going forward. ‘Minotaur’ sounds something like Ariel Pink only slightly more comprehensible and certainly less involved in itself, to good effect, and its duration enables it to do so – double the length of this track and you’d halve its quality, for it would too easily become confusing to the mind, too much to process.
Nathan Hewitt has some talent, that’s for sure, and his musical capabilities are well painted here. The only trouble is this music is almost as far from commercial as you’re going to get, despite his efforts to dress lo-fi alternative as quick and simple pop. He certainly gets within sight of pop but unless he gives up on what seem to be his major influences and musical principles he’ll surely never be able to bring pop into focus within these songs. I like it, lots of you will like it, but this will probably remain as it is now, that being Hewitt’s side project away from time spent playing guitar in Little Death who, for the record (ho ho ho), you should check out.
7/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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