The Cuckoos - Perfect View (2009)

Review by Sean Lynch

If The Cuckoos debut EP "Perfect View" is anything to go by, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that the members of Melbourne's Little Red are the most unsatisfied musicians in the entire spacial oddity we call existence.

Never in my life have I come across a band with such a bounty of "Side Projects" doing the rounds at once (including The Greasers and The Hondas) as I have with the lads from Australia's favourite Doo-Woppers.

Thankfully, it seems these are simply outlets of creativity - and the guys are positively brimming with it - as The Cuckoos "Perfect View" can attest to.

Comprising of Little Red's Tom Hartney (on vocals) and Quang Dinh (on guitar), Hercules In New York's Simon Lawrie (on bass) and Grizzly Jim Lawrie on the skins - The Cuckoos is the product of some fine tuned pedigree.

Opener Clementine draws the closest comparisons to Little Red without ever making a major impact, while tongue-in-cheek power ballad Perfect Day harks back to TT FM circa the early "retro" 1980s.

Which, now that I look at it, is just a confusing way of saying "1950s meets Huey Lewis & The News"...

Sweet Tooth Sally Malouf and Beautiful are harmless and enjoyable enough Elvis inspired tracks, without ever stamping themselves as true classics.

What does make the ears prick up, and the most left-of-centre move on "Perfect View", is the utterly captivating Lovely Day. A strange mix of The Beatles Octopuses Garden, Augie March's Train and a dash of a slightly sinister Play School ditty - Lovely Day is something of a revelation.

It is the sort of shining light track on an EP which really leaves you wanting more - and most certainly makes the prospect of any future output from a band like The Cuckoos an extremely exciting prospect.



RATING: 3 out of 5