{"id":109749,"date":"2026-01-23T13:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109749\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T13:46:06","slug":"album-review-cavetowns-running-with-scissors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/109749\/","title":{"rendered":"Album review: Cavetown\u2019s \u2018Running With Scissors\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

2016 summer aesthetics may be all the rage right now, but I\u2019m still stuck in the 2018 \u201cart hoe<\/a>\u201d era, where Vans were colourful, mom jeans were cuffed, and Hydroflasks were painted like Van Gogh\u2019s Sunflowers.<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking, of course, about the era when lo-fi indie artists like Cavetown<\/a> (real name: Robin Skinner) reigned supreme. Viral albums like Lemon Boy (2018)<\/a> and Animal Kingdom (2019)<\/a> grew Cavetown\u2019s YouTube subscriptions into the millions<\/a>, cementing him as a god of indie pop into the early 2020s. While I was excited to reconnect with my high school, ukulele-toting self when Cavetown released their sixth album, Running With Scissors<\/a>, on Jan. 16, I ultimately found myself disappointed. Despite some lyrical growth and experimentation, Cavetown remains a product of his time\u2014a sweet trip down memory lane, but nothing new as we approach 2030.<\/p>\n

There are some bright spots, lyrically. The title track, \u201cRunning With Scissors,\u201d speaks to some of the Gen Z frustrations which propel the superior songwriting of young bands like Geese<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cEverybody\u2019s a copy, everybody\u2019s in drag,\u201d Skinner sings over buzzing keyboards, conjuring a laugh and nod of approval. On \u201cNo Bark No Bite\u201d Skinner ruminates about parenthood, a looming threat for all twenty-somethings right now. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine, saying what he said \/ Doing what he did, being how he is,\u201d the song contemplates, addressing the common fear of turning into your parents, for better or for worse.<\/p>\n

My main gripe with Running With Scissors follows one complaint: Cavetown\u2019s making music about things which have, aesthetically, fallen out of cultural favour since the late 2010s. It\u2019s no secret microtrends<\/a> dominate the cultural sphere, moving at an unsustainable pace<\/a> and cheapening all forms of art. But this poses a challenge to clever artists: create something which stands on its own and outlasts the trend cycle. Cavetown doesn\u2019t rise to this challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncanny valley girl dream \/ The main character acting like an NPC,\u201d Skinner sings on \u201cNPC,\u201d referencing a bit of cultural slang nearly four years old<\/a>. The hyper-pop experimentation on \u201cCryptid\u201d is refreshing, even if it feels like we shouldn\u2019t still be singing about cryptids in 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Even the hyper-pop sound itself feels dated, if new for Cavetown. Upbeat jams like \u201cSailboat\u201d and \u201cRainbow Gal\u201d harken back to the good old days of 2020-2021, when 100gecs<\/a> ruled the internet. After Charli XCX<\/a> rebooted the electronic pop genre with brat(2024),<\/a> artists in this space were challenged to reinvent themselves, too. Some, like the ever-creative PinkPantheress<\/a>, have succeeded. Others, like Cavetown, have not.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say Running With Scissors isn\u2019t enjoyable overall, or that you shouldn\u2019t reconnect with old favourite artists. Just don\u2019t expect Cavetown to play the hits on this album; even on low-key songs like \u201cMicah,\u201d Skinner leans tentatively toward electronic pop. He sounds nervous to commit.<\/p>\n

The one upside: Cavetown\u2019s new album drove me to revisit Lemon Boy in its entirety. If your fractured, Instagram Reels-corrupted attention span of 2026 only has space for one album: let it be this one. Though Running With Scissors isn\u2019t perfect indie music, it\u2019s nice to know Cavetown did come close, once upon a time.<\/p>\n

Tags<\/p>\n

\n Album<\/a>, Album review<\/a>, Cavetown<\/a>, hyperpop<\/a>, indie music<\/a>, indie rock<\/a>, Music<\/a>, Running With Scissors<\/a> <\/p>\n

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and\/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2016 summer aesthetics may be all the rage right now, but I\u2019m still stuck in the 2018 \u201cart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[49264,49265,49266,49267,14789,5692,2538,9,24,63,122,124,123,49268],"class_list":["post-109749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-album","tag-album-review","tag-cavetown","tag-hyperpop","tag-indie-music","tag-indie-rock","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-running-with-scissors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}