What Writer Issue

I Was a Cub Scout - I Want You to Know That There is Always Hope

Source: The List (Issue 595)
Date: 31 January 2008
Written by: Doug Johnstone

(XL)

EMO

From the knowingly wordy title to the swathes of epic keyboards and echoey guitars, this album has ‘emo’ written all over it. Strange, then, that it comes not from the college heartland of America, but rather from a nerdy Nottingham duo.

IWACS’s debut takes a blueprint already clearly established at the poppier end of the emo market – Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie are obvious influences – and, well, reproduces it, for the most part. Whispery, sensitive vocals, sweeping guitars and minor chord choruses full of obscure wordage abound, and while it’s all nice enough, it seems a little empty at its heart.

More: Emo, I Was A Cub Scout, Rock & Pop, Records (Music)