7" Review from Splendid Ezine (October 2000)

The Cusacks / s/t / Insect Siren (7")

There's something about a sketchily-recorded 7" that never fails to make me a little happy. This one from the Cusacks has just about everything you'd want in a single, including a homebrew sleeve, type-written notes and beautiful blue vinyl. The music isn't really that great, but the spirit is there, which counts for something. The recording is pretty DIY-sounding, but I'm guessing that that was more or less on purpose. The levels are all over the place, and it's kind of hard to make out what's going on in spots, but the general idea is groovy, poppy noise, with some organ and vocal harmonies thrown in to thicken things up a bit. Of the three tunes (each sung by a different band member), "Pick Me Up at the Station" is the catchiest, while "Carol, Will You Marry Me? Ted" is the clever one. "It's All Been Had" is just sort of fast and buzzy, with a really loud fuzz guitar part. What this record lacks in finesse it makes up for with charm, energy and the enthusiasm that obviously went into creating it. -- ib