An eccentric aural adventure unlike anything else you’ll hear!
This is a review unlike anything I have ever done by far! I was given the opportunity to listen to an album by a band based in Brighton, UK, called snake eyes. As an American living in Hawai’i, this was a welcome change of pace! It’s the first time I’ve covered a group that’s not from Hawai’i, and I saw this review as a chance to get a taste of a culture completely unlike my own. snake eyes is a duo composed of Jim Heffy (vocals/guitar) and Thomas Coe-Brooker (drums/vocals), and they have just released their debut album, ‘cash rich’.
If there is one word to describe ‘cash rich’ as a whole, it would be… ‘unpredictable’! The album is composed of different songs with different paces and tones for as many different vibes you could want to create. Jim‘s gritty British accent contrasts starkly with the upbeat pop-rock feel experienced in most of the songs. This is far different than what I usually hear, but damn it sounds so good! The lyrics are simple, catchy, and easy to hear without compromising the beat. It quickly became clear that this project is more about telling a story than just creating a vibe. I could hear influences from American West Coast rock, but I think snake eyes do a great job of taking those influences and spinning them into their own homegrown take on the genre.
The vibe then switches from bright and bubbly to somber and emotional toward the middle of the album. The variation in pacing and style shows the wide range of the artists. snake eyes don’t box themselves into one specific way of making music, which, in my opinion, is quite rare and can be appreciated by a wide range of listeners. There is also a very interesting use of effects sprinkled frequently throughout the album that keeps you guessing what the sound was, where you’d hear it again, and what the next strange sound would be..
Everything from synths to whistlers to voice filters – if you can imagine it, you’ll probably hear it somewhere in the album. I thought it was clever how they used, what to me at least sounded like, a speaker feedback sound – a high-pitched mechanical screech. That’s the best way I can describe it, but most musicians will recognize it when they hear it, and trust me, you can’t miss it. It’s a unique sound that does give that sort of rock’n’roll feel to songs, but be warned, it can be harsh on the ears!
As I listened, I kept notes on each song and wrote down what I heard and how they made me feel. These were my initial impressions:
‘jar full of wasps’: speaker screeching, upbeat coastal feel, clearly audible lyrics. Vocalist and guitarist Jim Heffy says it’s “a song about bad friends and how you find your true mates as you get older. it’s about the kind of people who aren’t there for you when you need them, but pop up when they want something. Get rid!”
‘no cars’: pop feel. Upbeat. Sick guitar riffs during the choruses. Distorted voice on verses. Cool distortion sound in the background. Speaker screeching. Jim explains that this track is “about oil companies prioritising profits over the environment and not being held accountable.”
‘the kicker’: guitar-heavy pop style mixed with a gritty English accent. Fun. Speaker screeching. Nice build ups before the chorus. It addresses Jim’s “existential anxiety about the changes that need to be made for a better tomorrow. it’s written around environmental concerns and our collective responsibility to save our planet.”
‘hdtv’: slower tempo. Sad storytelling song. Relatable. Good balance of guitar and drums. Catchy. Cowbell? Easy to bop your head to. Jim reckons it’s his favourite! “A song about finding comfort in the little things. Taking musical inspiration from lots of different places on this record has made it our most diverse output to date, and I feel ‘hdtv’ is a prime example. trumpets, vinyl scratching, cowbell… it’ll make ya feel better.”
‘i’m a daydream’: softer, shoegaze type feel, kick drum heavy, with lyric “I always feel like something bad is happening somewhere else.” Jim explains it was born out of lockdown blues “it’s about taking stock of personal progress and how it’s something that’s very easy to lose sight of. It’s important to have self-belief and to appreciate yourself along the way. I still can’t believe we wrote a song this long, feels like an achievement.”
‘slugs’: slow, soft. Acoustic guitar heavy that pairs well with the subtle bass. Jim says it’s about “the first place I lived when I moved to Brighton in 2019. It was an incredibly damp basement flat, and slugs would somehow find their way in. It also features angelic backing vocals from our former bandmate Gaby Monaghan.”
‘hug me’: French countdown at the start, fast and bass heavy. Very catchy choruses. speaker screeching and some laser sound. Jim explains “I wrote these words around the start of the New Year as I was trying to make sense of being signed off of work with an anxiety disorder in late 2023, and what was next for me. It’s a song about recovery, love and empathy which I felt was a welcome change in the record. Featuring our good friend Erik Heise from German chart toppers Pabst.”
‘soup’: drum heavy, heavy bass during choruses, emo, clear lyrics. Jim says “This one really shows our love of the Britpop vibes. Although it feels like there’s a lot to be pessimistic about these days, wallowing in it is simply self destructive. This song serves as a reminder to myself to keep a positive mental attitude.”
‘cash rich’: different. Spoken word over a guitar strum. Jim elaborates “This piece encapsulates the main narrative, themes and sentiment of the record and therefore became the title track. Read by Grammy/Brit Award-winning artist, lover of collaboration and friend of the band, Joss Stone. She really put her own spin on it, a true pro.”
‘headache’: emo, catchy, weird sound effects at 02:20. As Jim explains, “a noisy, tongue-in-cheek, grungy number. I suffer with migraines on a regular basis so would’ve been written while nursing one. Pretty sure it’s all stress-related so I hope this song’s a cathartic way to make ’em go away. Shout out Soph Douglas for ripping the bass with us in the live room on most of the record.”
‘swing away: guitar heavy start that reminded me of country music, soft, speaker feedback screeching. Jim says it’s “an optimistic song about self-belief and going with your gut. There’s a positive, victorious nature to the song which felt right vibe-wise to see the album off. It also includes the dulcet vocal tones of The OG’s band member Nic Nicholls.”
‘robot boy’: distorted vocals, acoustic based, sad lyrics. Slow paced. Jim expains “This song is a little broken-hearted folky song that I wrote just before making the move to Brighton. It felt like a nice little wave goodbye to add to the end of the record. It was a time in my life of excited uncertainty.”
My favorite song on the album is ‘headache’. It’s really catchy and has a dark vibe that would fit perfectly in a movie scene where the main protagonist is going through a hard time after the big climax. I actually found myself singing it out loud during some rather stressful moments I was having in my personal life after I first heard it. The line “Why won’t the pain just go away” is brutally honest and relatable in such a somber but human way. ‘the kicker’ stood out to me for its fun energy. Jim’s rough accent went surprisingly well with the up-tempo instrumental that made you want to jump up and dance. It reminded me a lot of the music I hear out here in Hawai’i.
Then there’s ‘cash rich’. I’ll be honest, I didn’t get it. The guitar strum in the background was repetitive and so loud that I struggled to hear the vocals. I tried to gather some kind of meaning from the words being said, but I came up short after each listen because I couldn’t hear it that well. I wouldn’t say it takes away from the album, but it does show how stepping outside of the box can backfire and I found myself more confused than intrigued.
Overall, though, I loved the album. It really keeps you mentally engaged because you never know what’s gonna happen next on that first listen! When you initially hear the entire album, you feel like you just solved a puzzle. If you listen a second time you feel deceived by how much you missed the first time. This makes you want to listen again and again, to pick up on the many sonic nuances to be found which are easy to miss, all while compulsively tapping your foot or nodding your head to the beat. It’s like a Where’s Wally / Waldo? poster for your ears.
Main Photo Credit: LEE LONDON
- jar full of wasps
- no cars
- the kicker
- hdtv
- i’m a daydream
- slugs
- hug me
- soup
- cash rich
- headache
- swing away
- robot boy
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