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Catnip “Falling” (Second Shimmy 2006)

An affectingly spooky and haunting debut from a gifted and adventurous band

Catnip are a three piece Australian band from Melbourne this is their debut record. The vocal style of singer Nerida Trask calls to mind Harriet Wheeler of 90s Brit band The Sundays, with occasional hints of the Cowboy Junkies Margo Timmins and Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser. The musical backing wanders from electronica into something more organic and rootsy and back again, like a less funereal Black Heart Procession, particularly on ‘Here We Go Again’, which has some fine other worldly guitar drifting around amongst keyboard bleeps and blips. The record creates a haunting lonely sunlit atmosphere, and although Nerida’s vocals don’t go as far as the Liz Fraser non-language thing, they significantly contribute to the mood as another instrument, at least as much as they do in terms of lyrics. The drums too are not merely beat keeping but adding textures, such as on the closing of ‘Wish I Was A Bird’. ‘Stay’ has a touch of David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti menace, indeed much of the record has cinematic open spaces running through it. ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Time’ is early Cowboy Junkies style, but like many of the songs, it’s so well done that the influences just get overridden. A very promising debut.

Date review added: Sunday, December 03, 2006
Reviewer: Patrick Wilkins
Reviewers Rating: 8 out of 10
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