Cats:for:peru
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Cats:for:peru

Sheffield, England, United Kingdom | INDIE

Sheffield, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
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"DiScover Mixtape #3a"

3. Cats:For:Peru - 'Asleep In Monaco'
One of the many good things about these Sheffield boys and girls is the way their songs defy easy categorisation - influences crop up momentarily before disappearing into the background, never outstaying their welcome. 'Asleep In Monaco' (available as a free download) showcases their eclectic folk-rock chamber-pop perfectly, coming off – perhaps – like Elbow and Beirut covering Blur's 'The Universal'. Or perhaps not. Either way, it's pretty great. - Drowned in Sound


"Cats for Peru – Attack of the Pitching Machine"

The albums opens with 'Manifesto' – which is a strange culmination of a young indie Elbow, The Electric Soft Parade, and something else which I can't quite put my finger on. 'Love In A Lift' pulls Radiohead, Biffy Clyro's composition and an electro Dartz! guitar edge into the mix and you soon realise that actually, this crazy emalgamation is pretty good. When each song starts, you doubt whether you're going to like it, but about half way through it clicks that this is really exciting. This is really fucking good.

It's got everything a great record should; variation, beautiful guitars, tuneful (often gorgeous) vocal melodies, and catchy rhythms.

All the above statements generally apply to every track on the album so I'm not about to repeat myself, although I think the best of the album is in the first three tracks; the two mentioned above and 'Slight To The Right.'

I will be recommending this willy nilly. - Tasty Fanzine


"What the (bearded) cat brought in…"

Hailing from Sheffield and formed from the ashes of other bands, the combined experience of all members show in the broad range of feelings and musical genres mish mashed together. This is a lethal cocktail of an album.


Kickstarting the whole bag is ‘Manifesto’, swaggering about with that oh-so-ubiquitous but yet so lovable weapon of indie bands, the microKorg! Add to it a good dose of ukelele and you’ve got instantaneous indie cred. Then descend into some heavy riffage.

Wait, what? Ay, ay, ay, me gusta mucho! This sort of sly surprises, consisting of an unannounced change of pace (and genre) will be Cats:for:peru (now with more colon!) calling card for the rest of the album. And it’s excellent AND deftly executed.

Of course, you can disagree, because, as ‘Manifesto’ says: “your internet opinions mean nothing to me”.

The songs do cover several genres and it would be hard to categorise them, so, let’s not. Ditto for comparing with other bands. Now, let’s go over some of the stand out tracks…

-’Love in a lift’ goes out with quite a fight, using an epic ending that begs for fireworks, lasers and all that carbon-footprint shit reserved for stadium bands. But spectacle aside, this is some pretty good music that needs no pyrotecnics to call your attention.

-’Asleep in Monaco’ is amazingly sweet.

-Sometimes I feel bands know when they have a rope a dope combination in their albums and they just disregard the listener and go straight for our collective glassjaws. This point (that I just made up and will abuse in all my subsequent reviews) is in the form of the knock out combo of ‘Cutting the bridges in half’ (the one I mentioned with a dark understream) and the chilling “hey-it’s dance rock-wahey-no-it’s summink else!” ‘I love you more than evolution’.

-That break in ‘Answers’ is spine tingling.

The album does lose a bit of steam (in a good way, inspiration is still brimming here!) at the final three tracks, but hey, an intensive cardio exercise does deserve some cooling down period. And after using every single damn genre they could get their paws on (seriously, I think there’s even some country chords hidden there!), it’s a slow, calm goodbye. The kind that leaves you longing for more.

Not much else to say (or gush, like I do, sigh), but it’s a great band to see live. This is indie with some serious bite(sorry, I had to put a genre). Thread the water carefully, here be some fierce cats. - Sloucher


"Cats For Peru: Attack Of The Pitching Machine"

This is a seriously endearing debut record from the Sheffield band. Part nu-folk, part quirky indie, they have fashioned a wee niche for themselves that finds them sitting somewhere between Athlete and British Sea Power. There is freshness to their sound that brings to mind The Fall when Mark E Smith was a force to be reckoned with.

Opener Manifesto is a slow burning slice of pop that flirts with electronica that has an anthemic feel to it, but it is when the band plant themselves in the indie field that they excel. Love In A Lift has its roots firmly in the 80's, while the stand out I Love You More Than Evolution is like the bastard offspring of The Zutons.

Not everything works on here. Final track Last Man In Europe is perhaps the weakest link and certainly would not have been missed if it found itself left on the cutting room floor, but this is a forgivable flaw when there are track of such beauty as Answers and the pulsating The Bearded One.

This is an album that certainly should make sure Cats For Peru appear on many peoples radars in 2010. This is an album worth seeking out. - The Music Critic


Discography

Penicillin (EP 2007 - self released)
I:am:the:o (digital single 2008 - self released)
Asleep in Monaco (single 2008 - self released)
Attack of the Pitching Machine (album 2009 - Thee SPC)
We had this problem last winter (EP 2011 - Thee SPC)

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Bio

Cats:for:peru are a band from Sheffield, UK who began their trade early 2007 when Ad Follett asked his mates in the sleepy Sheffield suburb of Dronfield to help fill out his crop of ukulele and guitar-composed tunes influenced by the likes of Radiohead and Arcade Fire: The new five-piece set to it, focussing on their love of prog, postrock and independent pop.

After a flurry of well received gigs, the band headed to 2Fly Studios where, with the help of legendary local producers David Sanderson & Alan Smyth (Arctic, Monkeys, Pulp, Long Blondes), they tinkered for quite some time with Alan and Dave’s enthusiastically encouragement. The fruits of their labour were worth the wait; their debut album “Attack of the Pitching Machine” was released in December 2009 and is packed with emotionally charged songs and larger-than-life melodies that practically beg you to press the repeat button. National critics have said the album is “Perfect avant-pop that John Peel would undoubtedly be championing” and “This is an album that certainly should make sure Cats For Peru appear on many peoples radars in 2010”. After branching further afield in promotion of the album to London, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham amongst others, and supporting bands such as Wild Beasts, Sky Larkin and Here we go magic, Cats:for:peru have now announced their new EP 'We had this problem last winter' released on Thee SPC records