Pick the Cat's Eyes up!

If the truth be told, there was practically a 0% chance that I would've picked up on Cat's Eyes without the help of friends.  All that puff in the Sunday supplements about  gigs at the Vatican, a guy from The Horrors collaborating with an opera singer and an album released on a  major label (spit - ha, just kidding!) would've ensured that.  However, a word to the wise from a trusted friend is usually enough to make me put my prejudices to one side - at least for the duration of a YouTube clip or two - and so it was this time.  Fortunately, the first clip I watched was this:

From the way it glides into view kinda like "Svefn-g-Englar" did so memorably all those years ago to Rachel Zeffira's soft as snow vocals, it's a subtle charmer that makes you feel the loss of Trish Keenan a little more keenly.  By contrast, the next clip I watched was this little hurricane:

Faris Badwan's preposterous vocals really should have me running for the hills but, inexplicably, I dig 'em big time and Zeffira's contribution is, once again, wondrous.  Just listen to the playful way she sings 'I'm gonna go where the sun don't shine' like an even girlier Judith Boyle...smashing!  It's a wild ride of a tune that, unfortunately for the tardy ones who missed the "Broken Glass" double 7" in February, doesn't appear on the debut album.  It would be great hear it blasted out just once at a record hop to see if it causes dancefloor dodgems like it would in a fair world!

From an initial spin of their full length, there's nothing quite as tumultuous as "Sunshine Girls" but that's okay, as there are plenty moments of genuine prettiness to be enjoyed.  Sure, there is the odd jarring Badwan moment but they can't take the shine off what is, for me at least, an unexpected treat.  Thanks for the tip S, it was a good one!