antiMusic.com: Cats Park

Cats Park - Safety

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Vocalist Faijee of Cats Park has an Annie Lenox quality in her voice, and this woman's penetrating singing is what first hits you while listening to this Saint Petersburg, Russia group for the first time. Faijee is a former jazz vocalist that wanted to unleash the darker side of her musical personality. While the single "Safety" isn't dark in, say, the Gothic music style sense, it's certainly darker than a whole lot of jazz.

Even so, this moody track features a muted trumpet solo. (Apparently, you can run from jazz, but you can't hide). The group's sound has been described as down tempo and trip-hop. However, this particular track is fairly organic, instrumentally speaking. In addition to its standout trumpet solo, there are also subtle organ underpinnings. Furthermore, there is a very Jonny (Radiohead) Greenwood-esque guitar solo; one that hearkens back in some ways to the guitar work he put to "Creep," way back at the band's beginning.

Overall, this track leaves one with a bit of a chill. Maybe it's from knowing the fact that the act comes from Saint Petersburg, Russia. However, it's amazing, the universality of music these days. There was a time, and not all that long ago, when a band from Russia would have sounded extremely antiquated, simply because that old Iron Curtain also separated Russia's citizens from contemporary music. Yet Cats Park is quite contemporary sounding, indeed.

This music will appeal to anyone that thinks the Cocteau Twins should rock a little more, or The Eurythmics ought to have been a little bit more ethereal. But whatever angle you come at it, you're likely to really dig it.

Cats Park - Safety
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