Cancers have shared the second single from their upcoming double “a-side” 7-inch, the blistering “Helpless” via VICE. Following the recently released “Missed,” the duo’s new single “Helpless” trades programmed beats for an enormous wall of fuzzed out sound. After a haunting intro, the blown out guitars take hold of everything, a blizzard of unrelenting noise that provides the perfect juxtaposition to Ella Kaspar and Lenny Miller’s sugary vocal melodies. The vocals cut through the chaos, illuminating the song with pop charm that fits brilliantly among the carnage.
While their debut record, Fatten The Leeches, produced by legendary Seattle engineer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden), was comprised of enormous grunge riffs and sugary sweet pop hooks, “Helpless,” is a different beast altogether. Straying from the ultra hi-fi production of their debut to a noisier, grittier, lo-fi indebted home production, Cancers began experimenting with synth scuzz, programmed drums, loops, and a desire to push melodies as far into the fuzz void as possible. Stripped of their debut record’s sheen, Cancers embrace elements of shoegaze and post-punk, moving into new unpredictable territory on their new single, proving a knack for raw pop brutality in tone and execution.
Describing Cancers’ unique sound, VICE offered, “They make sludge-y, textured music, blending the heaviness and drawling vocals of shoegaze with bluegrass and weird electronics—imagine a Southern version of the Jesus & Mary Chain with more grime and synths … It’s a lo-fi recording but sounds huge, and the whole thing feels like a breath of fresh air in 2015.” While their debut album earned the band comparisons to The Breeders, Veruca Salt, and Smashing Pumpkins, their new single finds the band moving into a territory more akin to The Jesus & Mary Chain, Creation Records, and Medicine, reflecting a more experimental sound of indie fuzz, incorporating shoegaze textures amid bedroom pop recording techniques with endlessly unfolding layers.
STREAM/EMBED CANCERS’ “HELPLESS” VIA SOUNDCLOUD: