Originally
published in Skyscraper
A Cat Escapes is an eminently
listenable disk, replete as it is with sounds so light, sweet
and simple, but it covers Stereolab territory in a way that, well,
Stereolab covered so much better. Lupe Nunez-Fernandez has the
sort of pleasant wispy voice perfectly suited to these slight
bubbly tunes and her voice tickles your ear nicely. Following
the established tradition for this sort of plain pop she’s
accompanied mostly by light guitars and a drum machine with fellow
band member Mark Powell occasionally piping up on vocals, too.
In the end, however, we’re mostly presented with fleeting
fragmental ideas for songs. Some songs like the title track and
“The Conversation” even end seemingly mid-thought.
Sure, they’re likeable tunes, lovable even, but in the way
you love a cute girl in a fuzzy sweater who passes you on the
sidewalk in a foreign city, never to be seen or remembered again.
More succinctly (and less romantically), these are pretty, well-crafted
songs, but they're also unremarkable and inescapably derivative.
Nonetheless, with ten songs clocking in at a mere 20 minutes,
A Cat Escapes proves a charming little bag of candypop.
Official
site
Robert Stribley
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