by Devon Chodzin (@bigugly)
Cave People’s Dave Tomaine remains helplessly captivated by the wind. On the band’s forthcoming album entitled Wind Burn, out next Friday, May 20th via Disposable America (Bedbug, Pink Navel, Soft Blue Shimmer), Tomaine and his bandmates (members of Golden Apples, Marge, Eight, and Goshupon) reflect on the potential for wind to teach, to guide, but also for the wind simply not to care since it’s blowing wherever it’s going to, anyway. The record is full of the band’s trademark wistful indie rock plus some sforzando, with ample guitars swirling in motion around Tomaine’s steady vocals. On this full-length, the band’s third, Cave People truly lets go – Tomaine himself cites a desire not to be a “stone” anymore, reflecting on how stones still erode and wear away no matter how immovable they may seem. In embracing motion and flexibility, Cave People embraces the wind.
The third single off Wind Burn, “Bones,” marks Tomaine’s foray into writing a song about pandemic isolation, something he staunchly resisted. He bears witness to the tree outside of his Philadelphia home and the shadows it casts, figures whose motion demonstrates the capabilities of the wind. Tomaine’s vocals are especially soft amidst measured guitar strums; in between vocal takes, the tapping of cymbals recall the sound of branches rapping on the window pane. The song swells as the questions get bigger, but ultimately, he has no answer for his inquiry: “How do you feel like you’re doing something when you’re doing nothing?”