Love Letter To A Record: Carboard Cutouts On Whitley

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Eliot Argus – the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Queensland alt-rock upstarts Cardboard Cutouts – has pulled out a relatively-obscure Aussie folk record, writing to Whitley‘s 2007 studio album The Submarine.

Cardboard Cutouts have officially released their debut studio album, Politics & Footy Tips, today (June 27th). In a statement shared to the band’s social media accounts, they were “incredibly excited” to share the album “after about 18 months of blood, sweat and beers”. “It has been the most incredible journey to hear these songs take on a life of their own, and turn into something we’d only dreamed of hearing,” they wrote. We owe that all to [producer] Harry Verity, who was able to see our vision and push us to the edge creatively and make something we never thought was possible. We hope you enjoy this body of work as much as we do.”

Listen to Politics & Footy Tips below, with Argus’ love letter to The Submarine after that and the band’s upcoming national tour dates listed at the bottom.

Cardboard Cutouts – Politics & Footy Tips

Dear The Submarine,

You are everything an album should be. The perfect balance of the expected to unexpected that makes the album a journey more than a collection of songs. It’s almost too easy to hear my own story in you, which is something that I don’t think I have ever felt from any another album. Your production is the definition of perfect. It feels so genuinely raw, and exists without even a gram of corporate sheen that would suggest you’re anything that you aren’t. It’s just you, being you – I need to take a page out of your book there.

You were made when I was five years old, and I think I first heard you shortly after your release in 2007. My first recollection of you was in our family car on a trip out to Nanna and Grandad’s, a short drive from my hometown of Toowoomba. Now, I reach for you every time I take the plane to Charleville for work. You first struck me when I heard the track ‘All Is Whole’, towards the end of the album. I remember, as a kid, hearing the constant build into those massive gang vocals; it made my heart pump. In that moment, I truly felt music for the first time.

As an adult, the context is vastly different. It’s a haunting track. It breeds anxiety, tension and this wishy-washy feeling with its rolling snare and picked guitar throughout the verses. Still, when the chorus hits, everything opens up. It’s almost a reminder that, even throughout periods of stress, confusion and vulnerability, all the noise can disappear and you can carry on, mended.

Whitley – ‘I Remember’

As great as it is, ‘All Is Whole’ is far from the only time where you make me feel this. Throughout every track, you create this beautiful sense of melancholy. You have these sounds that take me to a place that feels strangely safe; it’s comforting and uneasy, all at once. I think this has something to do with your incredible blend of raw acoustic textures with synthesizers and processed drums. It’s this juxtaposition that creates such an enthralling experience every time I listen to you.

You are bold yet humble. You cover ‘Mojo Pin’, a Jeff Buckley classic. It’s not done as some kind of statement, though. It just is what it is. That’s you, The Submarine: You don’t pretend to be anything you are not. You’re nonchalant & honest in nature, laying it all out on the table; not to be judged, but be observed and appreciated for what you are. I find it incredibly inspiring. Thank you for helping me through the most confusing, anxiety-inducing, craziest and the most fun of times, The Submarine.

Much love,

Eliot