Cults to take Schine stage

Indie-rock band Cults are set to play the Schine Underground Wednesday, Feb. 29, in the first Bandersnatch music series show of the semester.

Core members Madeline Follin and Brian O’Blivion will be joined by Gabriel Rodriguez, Marc Deriso and Nathan Aguilar for live support. Local student band The Vanderbuilts will open the show with a set list of all-new material.

Cults grabbed attention in 2010 by proving themselves as a band that could get substantial mileage out of low-fidelity limitations. They’re a model group for the laptop studio age, with songs that synthesize the current rage of MacBook production value with a reverence to the girl-group jams of decades past. Their first hit, “Go Outside,” seemed almost too good of a song to be anything other than a one-hit death sentence. However, the group’s full-length debut “Cults” challenges any negative assertions about the band’s longevity beyond single-song hype. Bells, organs and thoughtfully overprocessed percussion remain consistently present across their 2011 album without seeming redundant or gimmicky.

Beyond the power of their production, it’s undeniable that Cults know their game when it comes to writing pop music. They’re a band who show great aptitude with the art of the hook - making them simple enough to remember, yet complex enough to bear repeating. Tracks like “You Know What I Mean” and “Oh My God” are just as compulsively re-playable as “Go Outside,” the hit that ignited the band’s initial hype.

With the strengths of their recordings in mind, one can’t help wonder how a band like Cults will translate in the live context of the Schine Underground. Accompanied by a full backing band, Cults have the potential to bring a new immediacy to their songwriting. But without their production value, the band also risks losing the distinct character that made their music ear-catching to begin with. Audience members will also be curious to see what new material The Vanderbuilts have prepared, as they’re now riding high off the current of their first full-length album release, “Miguel’s Orchard.” As a band that’s made their live reputation with a steady repertoire of old favorites, new material will serve as an indicator of where the group intends to go from here.

Win tickets to see Cults

Follow us on Twitter (@NewsHouse) to participate in our three-day long Twitter trivia contest to score a pair of free Cults tickets for the upcoming show. We'll be tweeting out three questions in the next three days, and the first to respond with the correct answer will be placed in a drawing to win the tickets.