CUT WORMS - Transmitter

A few days ago, some friends and I were discussing the tendency of certain songwriters to make glaring mistakes when sequencing the tracks on an album — a question that may hold little interest for most readers, but matters a great deal to an artist looking to connect properly with an audience.

Cut Worms' latest album, "Transmitter", falls squarely into this category of records penalized by a less-than-careful tracklist.

Despite having Jeff Tweedy of the Wilco behind the production desk, the record is missing that certain magic that has so far kept the bar high for Max Clarke's (aka Cut Worms) output. You have to wait for the fifth track, "Windows In The World", to get back a full dose of the American musician and songwriter's candor and emotional genuineness, and everything that follows is just as strong and incisive, to the point where you wonder whether, with a different structure, "Transmitter" could have aspired to be the most complete album of Clarke's now fifteen-year career.

Keeping the emotional tension high are a stunning slice of rock'n'pop worthy of peak Marshall Crenshaw, "Don't Look Down", where Jeff Tweedy's choice to pair tougher, grittier sounds with a cascade of electro-acoustic riffs creates a sonic whirlwind of rare power and beauty, and the beguiling, naive folk-pop of the languid "Shut In", which restores all of the author's best qualities: rarefaction and a slight, welcome imperfection.

What's not up for debate is Max Clarke's stature as a songwriter. Even a potential minor stumble like "Transmitter" retains all the essential qualities to be filed among albums worth listening to and enjoying without reservation, but it's impossible not to notice that pulling the author's nasal voice out of the haze occasionally roughens up songs that should instead glide by like butter on bread.

The all-too-obvious nod to George Harrison on “Worlds Unknown” isn't unwelcome, but underscoring similarities – Tom Petty on “Long Weekend” and Wilco on “Barfly” – along with a preference for more prominent instrumental parts geared toward live performance, dilutes the strength of the songwriting, which remains pleasant enough (“Evil Twin”, “Walk In An Absent Mind”) but not as incisive and memorable as in the past.

Ironically, “Transmitter” might actually bring Cut Worms a wider audience. After all, there's no shortage of notable instrumental details – the bass riff on “Evil Twin”, the marxophone sound on “Shut In”, the elegant fingerpicking of “Walk In An Absent Friend” – and if the smoothing-out of the band's sound, underlined by the piano-ballad closer (“Dream”), stays confined to purely aesthetic choices, I'll be among the first to welcome their next record with enthusiasm.

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04/04/2026