Notes on Cub Sport's 'Bats'
Welcome to my Cub Sport listening party! We’ve got BATS on the decks and if you like 90’s inspired luscious synths, gay stuff and dreamy melodies, well, aren’t you in for a treat.
As a Cub Sport ride-or-die diva, revisiting this album eight-years later feels like a nostalgic fever dream. Personally, it exists in that transitional space of being technically, but maybe not mentally, an adult. I still exist in that space, but you know, it hit differently in 2017. I’d just been introduced to the Brisbane outfit - consisting of Tim Nelson, Sam Netterfield, Zoe Davis and Dan Puusaari - following their 2016 Like a Version set. Two weeks later, I convinced my rat pack to squeeze into a packed Newtown Social Club and the gang hit it out of the park head- lining a show consisting of their first LP favourite ‘Come on Mess Me Up’ and gave the people what they wanted with their cover of Kanye West’s ‘Ultralight Beam’. In many ways, that lat- ter song was almost a prelude to BATS the following year.Think soaring melodies, delicate lyricism and a touch of gospel soul (or a lot in the case of lead single O Lord).
Now right off the bat (lol), we’re treated to an album that feels like a conversation between friends at 2 am after two bottles of the second cheapest red wine when you probably should have gone home already. Chasin’ is an ode to generational malaise and the good old situationship.The discomfort of the lyrics eventually leads into a driving drum groove giving us a quarter-life crisis masquerading as a sad banger. And girls be honest, who amongst us hasn’t cried over a boy who doesn’t care if we live or die. As Tim croons...does anybody want this? I guess I’ll wait and see. Ooft. I’m not allowed favourites, but I’m a very naughty boy and I choo choo choose Chasin’.
Now, I’m coming out (album theme!!) and saying it. BATS is queer. It’s unrequited love. It’s pining in a sapphic way. The Aussie equivalent to Call Me By Your Name in lyrical form. It exists in the liminal space of falling in love (Crush), confess- ing (O Lord) and then asking for love in return (just the whole album I suppose).This album quite literally wears its heart on its sleeve - it was the first time Tim and Sam trotted the band- mates to lovers’ pipeline. No pun intended. It’s the cutest love story in the Australian music scene. This album came out in the lead-up to Australia’s same-sex marriage vote in late 2017. Cub Sport stood up as a voice for our community at a vitri- olic time, especially for young queer people. In many ways, the authenticity and vulnerability on display in this album is a sweet tonic to a shameful period when politicians should have just read the damn room. Gay people exist. We’re here, we’re queer etc etc.
After re-listening to this album, let’s call Kylie Minogue be- cause I feel tension.The repeated use of organs and confes- sional lyrics (‘Solo III’ gets an honourable mention here) are
broad strokes painting a picture of a Pentecostal upbringing, while the subject matter is of a much more, let’s say, horny nature. And to be clear, I don’t think I’ve truly given Cub Sport the credit for how horny their songs are.
Give It To Me (Like You Mean It) is one of the more simple songs from a production POV - all plucky ukelele and lilting whistles. It’s a really cute song about wanting to get fucked. Surfjan Stevens would be proud. If we overextend our gospel touch- points,Tim is our pastor to pound town and this is a church I can get behind. I’m sorry I said that. Not sorry enough to take it out, but you know...for an extended tour of horniness give head bopping and bass-led ‘Crush’ its dues.
I love Cub Sport because they seem like genuinely nice peo- ple. As one of our biggest indie genre-queer acts (their words), their independence from any major record labels might be the key here and maybe one more creatives could take in- spiration from. BATS is a stunningly fun sophomore album. It’s an ode to chasin’ the wrong people, making mistakes of the heart and hoping someone you like might just like you back.
Best consumed smitten.
BRENDAN HANCOCK IS A SYDNEY-BASED COMEDIAN AND PRODUCER. A REGULAR AT COMEDY CLUBS ACROSS AUSTRALIA YOU MIGHT KNOW HIM AS ONE-HALF OF THE CULT GOBLIN POETRY GROUP TWO QUEERS WALK INTO A BAR. SINCE 2019 THIS KOOKY COMEDY GIRL HAS INTERVIEWED SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN HOLLYWOOD, WRITTEN FOR PUBLICATIONS LIKE PEDESTRIAN.TV AND THE GUARDIAN AND GRACED THE STAGES OF THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL AND ALSO AN ICE CREAM SHOP IN NEW YORK CITY. WHILE NOT STRICTLY RELEVANT, HE WAS THE RECENT FACE OF SEXUAL HEALTH TESTING IN NSW, AND HE JUST WANTED TO BE HONEST ABOUT THAT.
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