A Cuckoo

Destination Unknown (Le Grand Magistery)

By Jack McGregor

Album cover

Described by Mojo as “delightfully twisted’, this new Yorkshire artist has successfully delivered a piece of art that’s as creepy as it is wonderful.

Destination Unknown’s opener “Over the Moon’ provides the victim with a taste of the general theme of the album, with its gloomy lyrics like those out of some Romantic poet’s transcripts (no doubt in keeping with A Cuckoo’s fascination with all things old but not forgotten). While the songs on their own are all pleasant enough to listen to individually, the LP as a whole tends to get a bit boring after fourth track “Zanoni’, which has some beautiful Spanish guitar playing remixed with the X-Files theme tune in a truly unique style. The songs tend to blur into one, not only because of the consistently sad tone but also because of A Cuckoo’s voice; whilst melodious and soothing, it lacks diversity. This is not to say he doesn’t have a good voice - he does, and it is very suitable for the general tone of song - but it fails to hold the attention.

The quality of the mix itself is fantastic and, judging from the sheer variety of instruments and effects, this will have been no easy task. The guitar playing throughout has no particular boundaries, although it does at times lack a bit of punch, like in “The Girl from My Dreams’ on which A”ˆCuckoo might instead have let go and allowed his fingers to do the talking for a change. Nonetheless, the “cellos and violins towards the end add a lot of natural beauty, and the simple woodblock in the background keeps the rhythm steady enough to retain interest.

In short, the individual songs are beautiful, but the album itself avoids variety where it should embrace it. An act to keep an eye on. (5)