Sparking a spring in the step as it dances with the imagination, Fight for Love is the new release from US singer songwriter Cat Dail. It is a seven track offering which creates a web of styles and flavours woven into one irresistible party for ears with the Chesterfield, NH bred Cat. She has been a potent participant in her national Indie rock scene since the nineties and surely is now about to tempt far broader attention with this contagion fuelled new album.
Not only as a whole but individually the songs within Fight for Love are joyful conspiracies of sound. Whether you call its instincts as pop, rock, funk, blues or whatever, and all apply song by song, the fusion of flavours is a perpetually imaginative and magnet combination. Each track has a unique personality and invention united in the welcoming enterprise of Cat’s voice and lyrical temptation.
The EP begins with Can’t Buy Love, the song slipping in on a rhythmic impulse to spread a tantalising climate of woozy intimation and sound around the immediately engaging tones of Cat. Seductively haunting and suggestive in its melodic air, the song similarly captivates with its hip sparking sway and slow but lithe gait; the craft of guitarist/bassist Teddy Kumpel and drummer Shawn Pelton, as across the whole release, matching the prowess of Cat. Surf, blues, and country spices all add to the smoky temptation getting the EP off to an ear grabbing start.
Similar hues collude in the following Player, a slice of rock funkiness and melodic rock with a whiff of Fleetwood Mac to its lively stroll. Once more the vocals just dance on the ears as they lyrically tease, the song’s imagination just as rich and pleasurable as the song fluidly ebbs and flows in its constantly inspiring energy before Catch Fire grips feet and hips with its mellower but just as manipulative shuffle. Reggae nurtured flavours unite with surf rock currents as the song flirtatiously entices, a country twang teasing in its swarthy air.
Both tracks just hit the spot though are still eclipsed by the following Wonder Love, a heavier slice of pop ‘n’ rock which almost prowls the senses before uncaging one inescapably catchy chorus. Everything about the track is pure temptation amidst creative manoeuvres which just got under the skin in swift time, again an array of flavours combining to charm and bewitch.
Featuring trombonist Clark Gayton and Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet, Flow Zone is equally as compelling and joyous with its Talking Heads meets Molotov Jukebox conjured canter. Unsurprisingly another individual collage of flavours is honed into an ear gripping adventure around rhythms which alone incite body and spirit to indulge. It all adds up to the best track on the release, one which lingers and teases long past its departure.
The EP concludes with the pair of She Can Fly and Molly & Matchbox. The first offers an alluring sunshine of pop lined sound, a radiant embrace of melodic romance added to by the keys of Andy Erin and led by the perpetually tempting voice of Cat. Its successor is a country rock bred encounter with sultry climes and melodies around instinctively open vocals and words. There is also a fire in its belly which bubbles up from the song’s natural simmer and though, simply down to personal tastes, the song did not thrill as its predecessors it still ensured the album closed on an unmistakable high.
However you wish to describe Cat Dail’s sound, which as its press release asks “Is it Blues? Funk? Rock? Soul? Folk?” it is sheer magnetism and pleasure within Fight for Love, a record which puts a smile on the face and in the spirit.
Fight for Love is available now @ https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/kyalb01283297 and https://catdail.bandcamp.com/album/fight-for-love
https://catdailmusic.com/ https://www.facebook.com/catdailmusic/ https://twitter.com/catdailmusic
Pete RingMaster 26/06/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The exceptional start is swiftly followed by the fuzzier venture of Back In The Room, a track rolling on hypnotic rhythms and fizzing upon the senses with its three guitar pronged shuffle. The dual attack of vocals is just as magnetic, a collusion resourcefully driving the volatile proposition with a hint of The Birthday Party adding to its arousing shadows and increasingly rabid head. The song is part nagging dirge and part raw but multi-textured seduction united in a thorough captivation which eventually makes way for the gentler climate of Calenture Boy which smuggles its increasing delirium through ears while a smouldering climate is equally blessed with a sonic psychosis which sizzles with increasing heat second by second.
It is a creativity which looms impressively upon ears and thoughts from the opening strains of first track Tiny Miracles and persistently blossoms to greater heights across song and its subsequent companions. The opener flirts with the senses instantly, its initial guitar melody soon holding hands with Hart’s alluring tones and the rising caress of atmospheric keys. Quickly the track is strolling along with the darker shadows of bass riding the anthemic lure of drums as melodies and harmonies seduce from all angles. It’s controlled but enthused liveliness is as insatiable as the hunger of ears to devour it, an essence of Lightning Seeds coming to mind as the song grabs hips and imagination with consummate ease.
Its success is matched by the earthy majesty of All My Days and in turn the flaming revelling of There’s Always A Way. The first of the pair keenly walks and then bounds through ears, more flirtatious rhythms seizing body and spirit as vocals and melodies paint a brooding yet warmly alluring picture. Virulently catchy with keys and harmonies bordering salacious, the outstanding track is matched in majesty by its successor, a Cajun-esque dance with spicy harmonica and woozy melodies within a climate of moonshine fuelled, and inspired carnival.
The excellent start continues and hits another level with Egyptian Sunrise, the song a sultry tango of exotic mystique upon the driving throaty bassline of Matt McGuinness and the swinging bait of Sweetman. Impossible to resist getting physically involved, the song leads the body a merry dance with the imagination caught up in the creative tones and lyrical incitement of Karlost. Also swathed in the equally suggestive invention of Gareth Frederik Ellmer’s guitar, the song is a mouth-watering exploit soon matched in creative theatre by Provocative Cat. Funky with Parisian hues, the song flirts and dances with ears as the bass masterfully groans and Karlost paints the imagination like a vaudevillian showman.
The new single pulsates into view, its initial electronic tempting soon joined by rhythmic throbs and vocal bait. The ripe coaxing, speared by the purposeful swings of Guillaume Charreau, increasingly grows as sultry hues caress ears, their lures aligning with a just as potent melodic and harmonic drama. In no time body and imagination are lost in the flirtatious and riveting theatre of the song with the dark rhythms, led by a gorgeously throat bassline cast by Marc Arciero, alone just irresistible. The keys and guitars of Clément Leguidcoq and Drew Wynen sparkle and dance as they entangle with each other around the ever welcoming and tenacious vocals of Gabriel Cazes, he like the ringleader to a band of sonic mischief makers with a delivery which simply lures the listener deeper into the party playing with their ears.
The brilliant start continues with the rhythmically tenacious High. As the bass aligns it’s ominous yet invitingly throaty suggestiveness to the anthemic pull of beats, Metcalfe’s tones bring the narrative to pungent life like a lyrical Pied Piper within the post punk seeded and dramatic ambience of the sounds around him. It is gripping, irresistible stuff that demands increasing attention with consummate ease, much as the album and songs surrounding it, including the following Holy Brothers. Rhythms again create a bold canvas for keys and strings to share their provocative and melodic suggestiveness which in turn creates an aural sketch for vocals and words to captivate within. There is a slight feel of Fatima Mansions to that lyrical and indeed emotional prowess cast, a sharing of the descriptive and virulently compelling art of offering the imagination a fully equipped landscape to play with.