CANT is the project of Chris Taylor, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire of Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear (in which he primarily plays bass). Grizzly Bear, of course, need no introduction; 2009's Veckatimest was widely regarded as one of the albums of the year, and lead single 'Two Weeks' catapulted them to worldwide fame. Grizzly Bear are apparently Jonny Greenwood’s favourite band - a huge honour, which has clearly had a large impact on CANT. The first thing that grabbed me about Dreams Come True is how much he has either been influenced by recent Radiohead, or influenced by the same artists as Radiohead have been of late. Musically, every track lies somewhere in the ill-defined boundaries between Thom Yorke, Aphex Twin, post-dubstep and chillwave, chocked full of reverb-drenched vocals, chopped up rhythms, layered, airy synths and sparse minimalism. It is music very much of the present, ticking every relevant box for what is cool in 2011. I’m not saying this is a bad thing per se, but if a musician decides to do this then it is important that they have strong songs to back it up or else it can come off as trying too hard to jump on the bandwagon. Many of the songs on here, however, drift by unnoticed. The music may be well constructed, but the songs are pretty much unmemorable.
This is not to say it is all like this, though - in some places there are moments of genuine inventiveness, the title track being a particularly good example of this, clattering by in a weirdly unnerving, disjointed fashion. There are some other tracks which also stand out as strongly written pieces of music (the first few tracks in particular), but he pretty much ruins any enjoyment to be had from them by littering them with some of the worst lyrics I’ve heard in quite some time. It is possible to take bad lyrics with a pinch of salt, especially if the rest of the song is great, but these are extraordinarily bad. Here are a few lines from 'BANG': “tell me how you can run, I can hide, nothing’s wrong”, “and I can know I’m far away, nothing’s wrong, I have to stay”, “it’s a game inside your head and no one wins, where shame and pride alone will co-exist”. From 'The Edge': “each time you said you loved me, each time you said you cared, each time just say you love me, just love me, just like you said”. It’s like a 10-year-old singing into their Fisher Price My First Tape Recorder, trying their best to ape their favourite N-Dubz lyrics. I can sometimes forgive lyrical laziness, but this is just something else.
It’s a great shame, because it feels like with a bit more care and effort this could have been a genuinely good record. As it is, however, it’s just a lazy, damp squib of a record, miles away from everything that makes Grizzly Bear so good.