Cayucas - Dancing at the Blue Lagoon

Cayucas
Dancing at the Blue Lagoon
2015

Cayucas sound like they should be much better than they actually are. They have all the elements of a popular hipster band, interesting vocals, splashy instrumentation and Santa Monica street cred all they are missing is a floppy hat and a Coachella wrist band. But for some reason they have never really broke through or had that super strong album that would make them some of the greats. Dancing at the Blue Lagoon has some fun light moments that bring back summer vibes and hanging with friends by pools, but it also takes itself very seriously and has some almost unintelligible lyrics. "Backstroke" starts with a great vibe as an easy listening sunglasses song but then the word "backstroke" breaks in for no reason and adds nothing to an otherwise pretty good song. "Hella" also suffers from completely ridiculous lyrics and a chorus that is simply irritating at best. There is so much going on with this record, no instrument, genre or sound was left out. It comes across as more throw it all at the wall rather than produce something refined.

That is potentially where a great producer could bring out the best of Cayucas. Strip some of the BS away and there is a good album in there. The final song on the record "Blue Lagoon (Theme Song)" features just an acoustic guitar and Zach Yudin and sounds far more authentic then when they bring in the full stringed orchestra. The impersonal nature of the over produced song just takes you out of the album completely and waiting until the last track before you get something that connects, it's rough. There is no denying that Cayucas create a pretty California sound, but that is not enough to lift this record anywhere of note. Unfortunately this one is a skip.

4.8 out of 10