Cavetown's Running With Scissors
A breakdown of one of the most anticipated albums in Gen-Z indie pop-rock
Cavetown released his latest album Running With Scissors, and I was pleasantly surprised with how intricate yet fun this album is to listen to. It has moments of bittersweetness and moments of empowerment packed into one cohesive adventure that is full of sparkly surprises and deliberation.
“Skip”, the intro, begins with soft guitar strums and alludes to the classic Cavetown sound. However, if you pay attention to the lyrics, this is a far different Robin here —he’s taken away by this budding romance, a striking contrast from the longstanding loneliness era. This love entrenches him so deeply that he wants to skip the typical arrangements that pair with romance and perhaps frolic in celebration as synths and a drum-and-bass beat enter the atmosphere.
“Cryptid” retains the hardness of the beat that ends “Skip“ but comes to a slower, grittier groove. It’s an empowering song about knowing who you really are in the face of adversity from bullies and other mean-hearted folks.
“Rainbow Gal” is a love song with aspects of being teleported into an earlier version of digital communication — presumably the age of IM messaging and chat rooms. Rainbow depicts the colorfulness of LED screens and the queerness of this relationship. While we don’t have the nostalgic aspects of the original Internet connections, we at least can easily see our lovers’ faces right in front of us anywhere and have more freedom to have these kinds of relationships in the first place.
“Baby Spoon” begins with harmonics tinged with occasional encompassing beats, then the chorus comes and an electric bass guitar carries the words of care and compassion. Cavetown reminds us listeners, too, that it can be as simple as letting yourself be free in your body and checking in with whether you enjoy your career to feel better, even if just for the time being.
“NPC” is one of my favorites on the album — it’s packed with power chords, thoughtful video game metaphors and contemplative realizations. The bridge is full of fiery distortion that leads to assurance that these thoughts are cemented despite how “in between” he feels living in the world.
“Reaper” is about having tunnel vision, most likely while using his phone. My first thought is that this is about short-form videos specifically, since he’s “addicted to the rot” and “stuck in a loop like a fish in a bubble”. It’s a message about the little power we have sometimes to retain our attention away from these temptations.
“Straight Through My Head (DO IT!!!)” brings the listener into Cavetown’s intruded mind; the unwanted thoughts are not real and he repeats that to try to fight them off. Screaming vocals come toward the end in desperation, but they’re still paired with his softer vocals, too.
“Tarmac” is another song about Cavetown’s messy desires. He exclaims about how much he likes things that he shouldn’t like, including objectively nasty stuff. He nods to the idea of a wish growing stronger when it’s out of reach or specifically barred.
“No Bark No Bite” is about Cavetown encountering an older man who appears to have a bitter outlook on the world, which can be justified but is unfortunately projected onto the wrong reasons and people, such as Robin himself, and he learns what not to be like as he grows older from this nonverbal interaction.
“Micah” is about the joys and anxieties of trying new things, especially as an adult potentially feeling ashamed for the lack of certain experiences. He pleads that he didn’t know better and that he only has the best intentions with his actions, despite being a “zoomer” as a Gen-Z individual, a generation who partially grew up not in the real world.
“Sailboat” feat. Chloe Moriondo is a fast-paced anthem about butterflies and waves that arise with steamy interactions. It’s not always easy, because Cavetown “never wants to hurt” his lover, and impulses can take over in a flash.
“First Time” adds to the storytelling of these new experiences, but this time it’s more focused on the silly negative things like “getting pulled over on a highway”. Cavetown implies that he can do his own punishment for such things himself (“beat myself up nice and slow”).
“Running With Scissors” is Cavetown’s summary of his view on the meaning of life, and has a sustained instrumental outro, concluding with a guitar solo that leaves me yearning for more. It’s fitting because life rarely provides smooth or desired endings for each moment, no matter how joyous they are.