Album Notes

Too rock for hip-hop, too hip-hop for rock, Cold Duck Complex is not the music for tunnel-vision scenesters. Cold Duck Complex makes music for the in-betweensters, the what-does-it-all-meansters, the sacred-profane-keep-it-clean-obscenesters. In short, music for those who just don't know, and have the courage to say so. That said, it should come as no surprise that the group's new EP, Enough, is a complicated work, filled with all the intricacies and contradictions that come from trying to distill human life into four-minute sound bites. From the apocalyptic hopefulness of the postmodern man's anthem, "Sinking Ship" to the politically-charged frustration of "Killing Season", the lyrical content of the songs follows the music in defying genre and oversimplified definition. As bassist Joe Cardozo explains, the EP's title underlines the paradox that is the band's music: "The word 'enough' is open. It can be harsh or hopeless, as in 'I've had enough', it can be hopeful, accepting—'we have enough'. But it always contains a certain longing, an unanswered question".

With Enough, engineered by Mitch Chakour (Joe Cocker Band) and mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Apollo Sunshine), the band attempts to capture the immediacy of their live show, which has gained them a dedicated following of music-loving misfits throughout the northeast and beyond. Virtually all of the tracks were recorded live, with emcee Platypus Complex recording vocals in one take while band mates Cardozo, keyboardist Jeff D'Antona and drummer Makaya McCraven played in the same room. "In the past, we've done our recording in a more traditional fashion, with overdubs, punch-ins and all that", explains Platypus. "But at some point, we realized that our live energy at shows, just the four of us doing what we do in the moment, was what really converted people to our band. The attempt to capture that feeling guided the whole process of creating this record".

That is not to say that Enough sounds like your average bedroom jam session put to tape. Rather, it is the carefully constructed manifestation of a conscious less-is-more aesthetic that allows the musicians and the words to speak for themselves. The way that the members of Cold Duck Complex see it, this straightforward presentation, combined with a genuine passion for the music they create, is more than enough.