Caged Animals - Piles Of $$$

Caged Animals debut LP for the UK’s Lucky Number label, Eat Their Own, was recorded at home in Bushwick, with a generous serving of pitch-correcting vocal software, modern R&B balladic sensibility, and cross-generational lo-fi slack and chirps. There’s a palpable, slightly off-kilter sweetness at the core of the Animals’ single “Piles Of $$$,” and so having its video directed by quirk auteur Ace Norton was a smart play. Norton has lead man Vincent Cacchione and partner/bandmate Magali Charron cast in a Bonnie & Clyde type situation, the couple cruising around with piles of $$$ on a melodramatic shopping spree. I particularly respect how Ace embraces the most potentially difficult, off-brand lyric — shot here in a scene where Vincent sings “I want to rock with you tonight” while sitting glumly on a gas pump stoop — which is precisely what makes him a maestro of earnest awkwardness.