Cheatahs - Cheatahs (2014)

Cheatahs have announced they will release their self-titled debut album on 10th February 2014. The long-awaited album is first and foremost an exploration of the possibilities of modern guitar music. A blend of ecstatic noise, ambient drone and visceral, ear-splitting alt-rock, combined with lyrics that touch on the complexities of relationships, nature, the city, memory, dislocation and self-identity, the self-titled record displays a giant creative leap from the lo-fi fuzz of the band’s first two EPs.

To make the record, Cheatahs, headed first to the country, spending a week in an old stone-floored cottage in Cornwall, where recording was punctuated by walks in nearby forests and evenings whiled away at an isolated pub. The second location, Dropout studios in Camberwell, home of friends Part Chimp, was perhaps the polar opposite, but no less conducive to the creative process – not surprising given that the band were given access to the full arsenal of ridiculously loud vintage amps that help create the brutal majesty of Part Chimp’s recordings. As with Cheatahs’ previous work, all tracks were recorded and mixed by bassist Dean and produced by the band.