The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
the best boston and national bands, best music poll, boston phoenix

Cat's Eyes | Cat's Eyes

 Polydor (2011)
By DANIEL BROCKMAN  |  June 7, 2011
3.5 3.5 Stars

'Cat's Eyes' album by Cat's Eyes

It is a generally agreed upon truth that the best pop music occupies the small Venn-diagram overlap between the sacred and the profane, the itty bitty piece of real estate where our secret subconscious gets confused between which feelings belong to the Lord and those that reside Below. Few modern long-players understand this as innately as this unlikely debut from the duo comprising Faris Badwan, the mopey vocalist for the Horrors, and Canadian opera singer Rachel Zeffira. The result of their intersecting aesthetics is a Cat's Eyes album that meshes pre-rock girl-group songcraft and church-y reverie with more than a hint of menacing '60s film paranoia. "Bandit" turns a typical "he stole my heart" diatribe into a satanic choir hymn to a Man with No Name, whereas "Best Person I Know" and "Face in the Crowd" take Ed Sullivan shimmy and toss it down a lonely hallway to oblivion. Throughout, delicate orchestration and billowy organ work combine with a drastic sense of reverb-ed distance, making the whole thing sound like a tiny B&W set that is blaring a Sam Fuller flick from across the rows of a cavernous cathedral. Whether telegraphing heartbreak, world-weariness, or menacing intent (the latter especially on the Psycho-meets-Bad-Seeds nightmare of "Sooner or Later"), Badwan and Zeffira excel at heightening their musical senses simultaneously to the graces of the Heavens and the billowy depths of Hades.
Related: More soul from Adam and the Waxmen, Skipp Whitman | Skipp City, Saigon | The Greatest Story Never Told, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Music, review, album,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 06/29 ]   "Boston Harborfest and Chowderfest"  @ City Hall Plaza
[ 06/29 ]   Carte Blanche  @ Jacob's Pillow, Ted Shawn Theatre
[ 06/29 ]   MBTA Poetry Slam  @ Cantab Lounge
ARTICLES BY DANIEL BROCKMAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   EVERYONE LOVES DINOSAUR JR.'S BUG EXCEPT J MASCIS  |  June 17, 2011
    For Dinosaur Jr., an achingly melody-fueled power trio formed from the ashes of several Amherst-area hardcore bands in 1984, the pursuit of awesome came at the price of happiness, harmony, and ultimately the band itself.
  •   JESSICA 6 | SEE THE LIGHT  |  June 09, 2011
    There is an odd paradox in the modern Western way of appreciating music-as-art: musical pieces that get enshrined on top of the pillar of "art" tend to be those with little-to-no practical utility. Thus, no genre is treated quite as disposably as dance music, even though much of society's fringe movers reside there.
  •   MELVINS' KING BUZZO SLUDGES IT OUT  |  June 03, 2011
    "I have always assumed that I have good taste," explains Buzzo. "So if I like what I do, other people will like it, right?"
  •   CAT'S EYES | CAT'S EYES  |  June 07, 2011
    It is a generally agreed upon truth that the best pop music occupies the small Venn-diagram overlap between the sacred and the profane, the itty bitty piece of real estate where our secret subconscious gets confused between which feelings belong to the Lord and those that reside Below.
  •   DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE CRACK FAMILIAR CODES  |  May 26, 2011
    When I phone Walla, who's in Minneapolis with Death Cab on a tour that will bring them to the cozy Paradise a week from Sunday, he's in a reflective mood.  

 See all articles by: DANIEL BROCKMAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2011 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group