This eleven-song collection of twinkling teen drama synth-pop from the British duo known as I Was A Cub Scout will possibly be the best posthumous debut you’ll hear this summer. Why? However oxymoronic that may sound, Todd Marriott (vox/guitars/synths) and William Bowerman (drums) decided to part ways just mere weeks before the album’s June 24th US release.
Nevertheless, the group’s emotive poptronic sound will still win over many fans. Particularly from the high school set. Every song off of I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope attempts to encapsulate the raw emotions that fuel everyday adolescent lives. Marriott and Bowerman aren’t ashamed of drawing from their emo roots, you see. Actually, their whole intent was to demonstrate that emo doesn’t necessarily have to be a dirty word. They’ve attempted to capture the true essence of emotive music here, as heard in their biggest influences, Rival Schools and Jimmy Eat World. The album’s punchy opener, “Save Your Wishes,” with its shimmering keyboards and cascading glockenspiels will give you an idea of the lads’ musical ambitions, definitely not your little sister’s eyeliner-infused brand of emo. On second track “Echoes,” Marriott’s inflictive vocals, emanating equal parts regret and lust at every note (“Waste your days / Just waste your days with me,”), will make some think he is Chris Carrabba’s English cousin.
Listening to the Tinkertoy loops heard on “We Were Made to Love” and the glistening crib bells on “Lucean” will remind many of another digitally emotional duo from closer to home, The Postal Service, whom IWACS share an undeniable kinship to.
It is IWACS’s heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics which abound most distinctly over the duo’s Fisher-Price electronica—case in point, the resounding chorus heard on “Pink Squares” (“Oh oh oh, am I in trouble? / And darling, I apologize / I need you more than anything / Please come back with me tonight,”) sung over intermingling synthesizers. Church organs begin the romance service heard on “Our Smallest Adventures” (“Ohh love, believe we could be complete,”).
Alas, catchy teen romance sung over looping kiddie Casio is hard to come by these days. It’s a shame that this duo has decided to part ways. Considering that they both toured with the likes of Panic at the Disco, Babyshambles, Editors, and Minus The Bear before their eighteenth birthdays, it’s safe to say that this album is not the last we will hear of either of them.
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