Cut City - Where's The Harm In Dreams Disarmed

With the abundance of digitized music stockpiling the internet, this record's destiny might be to float on, unnoticed by the masses. That would be a shame, but for the members of Cut City, the physical release of ”Where's The Harm In Dreams Disarmed” marks the end of a journey that commenced more than four years ago.

As the delight of the lush ”Narcissus Can Wait” 12” (Deleted Art/Some Industries, 2009) was quickly absorbed and fans thirsting for more, the band set out to record their second full-length, the follow-up to their dark and daring debut ”Exit Decades” (Gold Standard Laboratories, 2007). But little did they know that it would take eons to finish and very little did they know that the band would cease operation before it was out. But as with every grand finale there's immense beauty in the light that it casts.

The title says more than anything; is there any other notion that conjures the image of acceptance of failure than ”Where's The Harm In Dreams Disarmed”? Though a majority of the record was written before Cut City decided to go on an extended hiatus, the album and its lyrics is pregnant with poignant themes of loss and deflation of mind. But as with every Cut City record there's the polarity of words and music; if things look bleak there's always something to counter that notion. ”Where's The Harm In Dreams Disarmed” may lyrically be dressed in a bleak and ominous costume but the musical backdrop is a mesmerizing and dreamy collage of sounds and thrusting beats. The anthemic opening track ”Void” sets the tone and paves the way for the wall-of-sound of ”A Modest Recovery”, which in turn leaves the field wide open for emotions to run wild. Then, of course, there's the ninth and last track, an 11-minute trilogy of love lost and drowned, which gives the word epic a whole new meaning.

”Where's The Harm In Dreams Disarmed” hit the digital record shelves in August last year and the immediate response was that of its stunning beauty. We knew that Cut City could write songs but an album like this is just one in a million.