Cults began as a bedroom recording collaboration between guitarist Brian Oblivion and singer Madeline Follin. When their first single, "Go Outside," went viral in the indie blogosphere, the Brooklyn-based duo became an overnight success, landing a major-label record deal and a rapidly expanding audience.
At first, Cults' music sounds like sweetness and light — chiming guitar pop, twinkly glockenspiel and quirky samples — but their lyrics flirt with dark, dystopian fantasies. The songs on the duo's debut album, Cults, were inspired by an ambivalent fascination with charismatic cult leaders and members like Charles Manson, Patty Hearst and Jim Jones. Sunny yet sinister and winsomely weird, it's no wonder Cults are a new fan favorite — and was one of WXPN's Artists to Watch this past July.
Today's World Cafe features an interview with Oblivion and Follin and a performance recorded onstage at World Cafe Live.
This World Cafe interview originally aired July 22, 2011.
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