Cinema

Well, over the past couple of days, I have obtained several great albums: Contra by Vampire Weekend, I Believe You Liar by Washington and (my personal favourite) Happiness & Surrounding Suburbs by Ball Park Music. Sadly, this last album didn't include Sea Strangers, one of my favourite songs by the group, but it's still good to know that such a fantastic Australian band has finally released an album. So, laughing in the face of all these fantastic albums and logic itself, I decided to review another Cat Empire album. I honestly don't know why, but never mind.

So, providing the level of background provided by 20 seconds on Wikipedia, Cinema was the most recent release by the Cat Empire, released in 2010 and it is their 5th studio album. So, starting at the beginning:

1. Waiting
So, seeing as I have already reviewed a Cat Empire album, I don't think I have to give an overview of the Cat Empire's style. Lively, crazy and awesome is all any person fining themselves accidentally reading this needs to know. So, Waiting is  (in comparison to previous songs) a slower song. It has a really good keyboard backing and, it almost goes without saying, has great vocals. It is a rather strange way to start off an album in my opinion. Compared to other Cat Empire songs, it's rather sober but still a very easy tune to dance to.

2. Falling
This is my favourite song of the entire album, just to put it out there. Normally, I have a few favourites but Falling stands out well and truly. I don't know if this reflects badly on the rest of the album or just very well on Falling, but it is an extraordinary song. I think the main theme of the song is just getting older, although it does touch on love a bit at the end. Great everything, typical of the Cat Empire, but Falling just has that extra little bit that will have you singing it in the shower for the next week or so. Anyway, the one thing I'm starting to notice about this album is that, although it has as much life and energy as previous albums, it is a touch more withdrawn and "focused" than previous albums. Instead of just making noise (very good noise), they decided to focus on being a bit more mainstream. I honestly don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but like I said in the last review, it's a very good sign when a band starts evolving on it's own, especially when no-one is forcing it to. Any band (even a good one) which uses the same formula is eventually going to get stale and old (Mumford & Sons is the first thing I think of. Little Lion Man was an incredible song, and The Cave was also an incredible song. And all their of their songs ..are...incredible songs. Oh. When the entire discography of a band is essentially the same song, these songs fall from "awesome" to "not another one". In the end, I regret listening to Mumford & Sons album because it took a lot of the novelty Little Lion Man had away. What was my point again? Oh, that's right: Change is good).

3. Feeling's Gone
Along with Falling, Feeling's Gone was the other single off Cinema. In my last review, I pointed out that Miserere was how a good sad song sounded, despite the fact I wasn't quite sure what point they were trying to make. Feeling's Gone is the same attempt, just not pulled off as well. Feeling's Gone is an attempt at a sad song. That much is obvious, and a step further than a lot of (supposedly) sad songs these days. I never thought I'd say this about a Cat Empire song, but they put too much energy in it. This is truly ironic, as the excessive amount of energy the Cat Empire put into their music is one of the reasons I like the group. But they just aren't cut out for songs like this. If they had tried to capture some other emotion, they would have been fine, and I even feel like this song was half sadness half anger, but that just doesn't come off enough to make this a good song for me. Absolute over-the-moon joy and absolute I'm-about-to-play-single-player-Russian-roulette misery are the two modes the Cat Empire can switch between perfectly. This is possibly the first Cat Empire song I can ever say this about, but everyone (especially the masses of people that read this blog) can probably give this a miss.

4. Only Light
This song is interesting. It goes to disprove a lot of the things I just said. This song shows that the Cat Empire can do a sad song. I wouldn't be surprised if it was revealed that two different members of the band wrote this and Feeling's Gone (research disproves this theory). This song is the right way to do a sad song. Put just enough energy to make the instruments do what they need to do and put some extra in the chorus. Hey presto, a good song. Definitely captures some key elements about the Cat Empire which Feeling's Gone just misses completely.

5. All Hell
This song really backs up my theory that the Cat Empire are holding themselves back during this album. I'm not sure what emotion this song is trying to get across and although it annoys me a bit, it's not a big problem. It has great piano backing and the best vocals of the album so far. I also think the trumpet (?) parts around the second chorus repeat really add something to the song, I just don't know what. Don't know what are key words to this song. It's really good, but misses out on my top three for this album because I don't know what point the group were trying to make.

6. Shoulders
My second favourite song of the album. Like All Hell, Shoulders doesn't make its driving emotion overly clear, but I think anxiety sums it up pretty well. Not sad enough to warrant that or misery as defining emotions, but certainly not a cheery song. I think anxiety also covers the subject matter pretty well. Like All Hell, Shoulders also makes good use of trumpets, which is one defining instrument of the Cat Empire I'm glad to see in this album a couple of times. A good song overall, but I think the other songs on this album take a bit away from it. Some elements of Shoulders just sound better when not between things like All Hell. Not because All Hell is better, just because the two are a touch too similar. The instrumental at the end of Shoulders is very interesting, but seems to be more of an interlude than an actual part of the song.

7. The Heart Is A Cannibal
This song really is a throwback to the third Cat Empire album, Cities (which I haven't mentioned on this blog, but still might review one day) and is very similar to the group Jackson Jackson (which includes a member of the Cat Empire) so much so that I initially thought this was actually a Jackson Jackson song (which is far from a bad thing). The Heart Is A Cannibal is easily the first song on this entire album which I actually would have picked as a Cat Empire song after hearing their first four albums. It has all the energy expected in a Cat Empire song combined with the strange darkness which seems to occupy all the songs on this album. I can't say this song is a bad song, it just makes no sense (as the name may suggest) and isn't really my kind of thing. It does invoke a certain sense of nostalgia, which is always nice for a piece of mid-album filler.

8. Reasonably Fine
In the same way The Heart Is A Cannibal is the most recognisable Cat Empire song as a Cat Empire song, Reasonably Fine is nothing like a Cat Empire song, and I do really like it. It focuses much more on the vocals than many Cat Empire songs, and the singer holds up perfectly. This song ends up sounding like a mix with Yves Klein Blue (with Cat Empire vocals and more trumpet action). I really like this song, mainly because it shows that the Cat Empire can successfully do songs that are different to their norm. If it had been up to me, I would have released this as the single instead of Feeling's Gone.

9. Call Me Home
The child of All Hell and Shoulders, but a standout song all the same, being the final addition to my top three. This song contains just a bit of the energy and life the rest of the album seems to lack. It has an overall theme of camaraderie and (obviously) returning to your roots. I can't give an actual analysis of the plot of this song (I never can with Cat Empire songs) but I feel it would be worth knowing. The trumpet solo near the end really just gives the entire album just a bit more essence of classic Cat Empire.

10. On My Way
This song has some of the nonsensical lyrics and needless energy that embodies The Cat Empire. It's quite strange that the album pushes the songs more akin to previous Cat Empire work to the end. I would have thought they would have been nearer the top for longtime fans of the group. This song has really good vocals (even by Cat Empire standards) and great use of trumpets. This is the song which has made me want to dance the most throughout the entire album, for whatever that's worth.

11. Beyond All
OK, final song. This song is a strange combo at first. It has slower vocals than usual accompanied with music faster than usual. Eventually the vocals speed up...and then slow down again ...and speed up... never mind. The whole song is really strange, curious and basically a very interesting mix of everything the Cat Empire has made. The three things that this song brings to mind are:
1. The musical equivalent to a clip-show (in a good way).
2. The song to accompany an eclectic nightmare (in a good way).
3. The song to accompany an out of body experience (sort of in a good way).
 Possibly the strangest way to end a Cat Empire album (with a resounding bell chime or drum note or something) and a truly strange song.

Overall, this album hardly sounds like a Cat Empire album, and I may be slightly biased in the fact that I wanted a Cat Empire album. I don't think going in a new direction is a bad thing, but it just gave no real notice. Also, this album seems much darker and held back than many other Cat Empire albums, almost like the band grew up, bought a suit, accidentally killed a man in a drunken escapade and them released this album. I don't know if the next album will return to the basics or carry on this path, The strange thin is that I don't really mind. The Cat Empire has proven over and over again that no matter what sort of music they make they will make first-class songs, no matter if they are designed for parties or funerals. As long as they don't take too much after The Conglomerate (shudder) they should be fine.