Cuffed Up - 'Mother/Father' & 'Small Town Kid'

Cuffed Up make their double A side debut with post-punk monster tunes, Mother/Father’ and ‘ Small Town Kid’.

Cuffed Up are part of the growing L.A. DIY scene inspired and formed over a love for the UK punk scene. This love is obvious when you hear their new single ‘Mother/Father’, as you would assume they were a British band. It’s a raw and punchy number that nods to all the big UK ‘punk’ bands taking the world by storm. The intro is a mix of wailing guitars doused in feedback and delay, whilst the drums tick like a bomb as the band launch into full force. It is like IDLES tracks such as ‘Danny Nedelko’.

However, there is a great deal of musical intricacy and Cuffed Up make use of pop melodies. For instance, the vocals are traditional pop melodies – they don’t grunt or scream at you. the guitars in the chorus are inspired. Beginning with a cool melody followed by discordant bends to keep you on edge. They do this in the instrumental middle – pop guitar lines with punk dissonance. So, in that sense, you can hear a bit of Shame in there too.

There is a lot of back and forth in both ‘Mother/Father’ and ‘Small Town Kid’ Vocally, the cross between female and male leads lean towards bands like Sonic Youth. Cuffed Up’s sound alternates between ‘happy jangly indie’ to ‘pissed off punk rock’. It’s intelligent, draws you in and keeps you wanting more.

Words of Matthew Brocklehurst

'Mother/Father’ and ‘Small Town Kid’ are available for digital download on a name your price basis, here.