One Track Mind

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Brooklyn-based indie-pop act Cause Co-Motion! would likely be the first to admit their sound isn’t groundbreaking. The band proudly wears their influences like a Pastels badge, churning out jangly, guitar-driven songs with amateurish vocals true to the C-86 tradition they so clearly admire. However, this isn’t meant as a criticism; there are few bands around that pay homage to this style as well as these guys, and they’ve been doing it for years.

Taken from their new Because, Because, Because EP, “You Lose” is reminiscent of many of the acts on the Creation Records stable in the late 1980s, perhaps with less distorted leanings. Guitars are hammered in flurries of frantic strums and the whole production has a purposefully lo-fi sheen. It isn’t (and isn’t intended to be) music with wide-ranging appeal, but fans of the indie-pop’s roots in the United Kingdom will find this song simultaneously refreshing and immediately familiar. After one lap in the pool, I’m ready to dive right back in.