Australia’s premier dance-pop group, Cut Copy, is letting all deeper meaning slide on its fourth studio album, “Free Your Mind.”
During the 14 sickeningly consistent tracks of drum-machine stomps and neon synths, lead singer Dan Whitford sings platitudes throughout the album, “Oh, shine brother, shine on/ Oh, shine brighter than the sun,” “Let me show you love/ Oh let me show you you’ve got to live right now” and “You gotta go and free your mind ’cause life is of your own design.”
The persistent, generic positivism of these lyrics, found throughout the album, quickly grows old, and through repetition drains any meaning it had in the first place. Cut Copy tries to match this cliched, smiley-face lyrical sentiment with an over-the-top production style; synthesizers and percussion are thrown on endlessly to an almost gaudy, tacky effect. Standout track “Walking In The Sky” shows the band at its best when it ditches the busy, mostly synthesized instrumentation and brings the guitars and live drums to the forefront. Still, despite or even because of its faults, “Free Your Mind” just wants listeners to dance, smile and have a good time.