Cat’s Eyes: Cat’s Eyes

Cat’s Eyes: Cat’s Eyes
In 2007, The Horrors released their debut album, Strange House. The album peaked at number 37 on the UK charts and was praised for its mix of horror punk and post punk. The band obtained even greater success with their sophomore album, Primary Colours which reached number 25 on the UK charts. Since 2009, the band has been fairly dormant save for a few festival shows. Now, lead singer Faris Badwan emerges with his new project, Cat’s Eyes. The band’s debut self-titled album will surely get compared to The Horrors but probably deserve to be considered its own entity.
I am probably a good person to be reviewing Cat’s Eyes debut because I have not listened to much of the Horrors so I come into it with little expectation. But what expectations I may have had were shattered pretty quickly. The group does not have a horror punk nor post punk sound; instead their sound is retro chic influenced by chanson, girl groups, and brit-pop. “Face In The Crowd” is reminiscent of Edwyn Collins‘ “Girl Like You”; it has a retro chic and a hint of Iggy Pop mixed in for good measure.
But not all tracks have the same poppy feel. “The Lull” is not poppy but it has a sort of The Velvet Underground and Nico feel to it that makes it work. Other songs like “Sooner Or Later” sound like the worst Sonic Youth track ever.
It is really a crap shoot as to what you are going to get from track to track. Maybe the worst part is that even the best tracks on Cat’s Eyes would be considered mediocre tracks on a more solid album. It leaves me feeling like Faris Badwan should just stick to his work with The Horrors.
Rating: 3.3/10
MP3: Cat’s Eyes “The Lull”
Buy: iTunes or Amazon