Cats On Fire – Our Temperance Movement

The singer from Cats On Fire has a wonderfully clipped and crisp voice, possibly because he’s Scandinavian singing in English. You can see the very English influences, but also those of pure indie pop bands like the Go-Betweens and The Lucksmiths. They burst out the traps with a great trio of these songs, Tears In Your Cup, Garden Lights and Letters From A Voyage To Sweden. Never Sell The House brings the tone down, a twinkling sparse backing providing a lovely track to some heartbroken sounding brittle vocals. You can see the Belle and Sebastian influence on The Steady Pace while Lay Down Your Arms is a chirrupy, trotting horse ride of a song, a bright productive spring morning. Fabric is particularly delightful, reminding me of more leftfield indie pop from the eighties, the way The Housemartins or Trash Can Sinatras had those lovely little quirks that set them apart. It is set around a lovely spiralling melody and some dreamy backing vocals. Horoscope now finds me thinking of the Go-Betweens, thinking of dusty suburban settings and in fact with The Borders Of This Land I’m heading even further that way. Our Days In The Sun threatens to turn into A Whiter Shade Of Pale but doesn’t, mores the pity. While not a great album, it’s certainly interesting and a good listen.

Our Temperance Movement is released on How Does It Feel To Be Loved? on June 1st
Cats On Fire myspace is here