Cat-A-Tac

Past Lies and Former Lives

(Needlepoint)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

Kinda smooth but quirky and slightly edged indie Britpop noise that hits at first a little like a sparser Dandy Warhols. Some of the songs drop the noise off the guitar, and slide smoothly along, but when the noise fuzz kicks back in, it moves just that much better. While I can understand how some people might be like – “oh, there’s guitars and noise – let’s compare them to My Bloody Valentine,” I just don’t really hear it moving that way. It’s more like a mellow Buffalo Tom, or some sort of Replacements inspired rock striped down and thickened out. There are driving rhythms and droning sounds that flow around, but this is a pretty straightforward pop record, and throwing down the noise does allow the Cat-A-Tac to hit some quiet Jesus and Mary Chain moments, but the swirl and psychedelica that could be coming in hard and fast in songs like “Credit Whore” or “We’re All Gone” just don’t push through – leaving with you some more of those Dandy Warholed waves and some little Yo La Tengo sprayed grooves. A solid mix of sound and pop gazing. Nice and melodic and flowing and dreamy… and it leaves me feeling like I need to just lay back and stare at the stars and listen to some more.