English Rock: Cavalier King and the Talk

The Brit-rock anthemic quality of Cavalier King’s song, “Sun Revolution,” makes it seem as if we’re inside a John Hughes movie for 2006. As Cavalier King (a.k.a. Christopher D. Taylor) sings “But today we will reign forever,” you can imagine the band on stage in the closing scene of today’s Pretty in Pink, the romances aligned, justice over popularity assured, and victory for the idealistic believers.

Taylor’s voice has been compared to David Bowie, and while there’s definitely hints of glam rock, there’s also the next step in the branch of rock’s family tree: Morrissey. Taylor doesn’t have the same timbre, but he does have the same over-the-top, heart-on-sleeve bombasticism coupled with tender moments, falsetto moans, and sing-speak irony. On The Sun Revolutions, the would-be theme song “Cavalier King” is very similar to what Morrissey and company have produced on his recent solo album, such as You are the Quarry. The song vacillates from loungy vocal to big chorus to picked guitar bridges, orchestrated to follow the emotive lines, over the mid-tempo disco drum set. Listen for the Morrissey effect in “The War is Over” and “Champagne & Cocaine” as well. Of course, the latter is also where people have had the opportunity to mention Jim Morrison, as Taylor’s deeps deeper, holding forth over the near-chaotic guitar while saying, “Champagne & cocaine, come on, baby, dance/We may die tomorrow and I’d like to get to know you better/Before we all go up in flames.”

That said, the album actually begins with “Renegade,” which takes a page from Muse’s Absolution. Taylor uses that ominous Britpop sound of Muse, the sound that brings in a line of clouds over Coldplay’s brighter sides. “Renegade” exemplifies Taylor’s exploration of the heights of self-confidence and the true emptiness we try to disguise. Much like Muse’s introspective and extrospective discussion of religious faith, Taylor’s “Renegade,” among other tracks here, looks at the claim of unbelief and then asking, “Don’t you wonder how I keep myself. . .from going quite insane?”

The acoustic-led brooding of “The Unprotected” gradually leads to dance track rhythm. It strongly recalls the sound of James. This song of teenage sexual desire speaks about that reckless embracing of consequences in order to have “the feeling that I am still alive.” While the song seems to celebrate this “throw caution to the wind” attitude, Taylor weaves second-guessing into this song through the way it reveals thoughts that cannot hope to be truly fulfilling (i.e.: the idea that suffering and bleeding from unprotected sex would actually be a positive way for someone to discover that his life were real).

Thank you to Cavalier King and Rubric Records for the review copy.


The Talk's The Sinners of Daughters
It’s the John Hughes movie quality and orchestrated ebbs and flows of rocking hard that caused me to think of the Talk’s 2005 album, The Sinners of Daughters. Cavalier King has a full sound for an almost entirely solo project by Christopher Taylor, but by contrast, the Talk sound like a band through and through. While this makes a difference, the way the Talk follow highs and lows through varying sections of their songs, often letting them build up to charging the gate at the top of the hill, is certainly a common point with Cavalier King.

While listening to Cavalier King’s “Renegade,” I kept waiting for the chiming guitar on the Talk’s “Any Other Saturday,” which signals the crest of the hill. With brooding tones to their anthemic rock, the Talk could also play the stage in a 2006 version of a Pretty in Pink story. If you’re a guy who grew up in the 80’s, you know that secretly you always wanted to be the one to save Molly Ringwald, and the Talk kind of provide a new soundtrack for that introspective drive around town and that race to the Prom doors to claim her as your own.

On “With Guns in Our Hands,” the Talk adopt the Europop punk keys of Carter U.S.M., before returning to the Talk’s more natural rock with a dose of skate punk. It’s only a dose of punk, yielding smash down tracks like “These Swollen Eyes,” tracks which run through town led by Justin Williams’ high-toned vocals. The angry urgency of guitar-bass-drums is anchored by this voice which has some of that over-the-top, heart-on-sleeve sound of Cavalier King.

Thank you to The Talk and Morisen Records for the review copy.