cat on form
A Blanket Over Your Eyes CD
(Southern Records)
- More Escapism
- Sad For Sale
- We Are Not Afraid
- What We Call Beauty
- A Feeling Or State Of Emptiness, Loneliness, Or Loss
- Mouths and Minds
7-10 Live tracks from their final show (Brighton Freebutt - 21/08/04)
This final record is a far more introspective effort than these previous releases, the paradigm shifting from the political to the personal, however entwined both find themselves. Their world-weary detonation sound feeding off the rage they once directed at the outside world, now turning within. Yet this record comes as some surprise when one considers it was largely written in an idyllic log cabin on a lake outside Washington DC. Recorded in Philadelphia by friend Steve Roche (Off Minor) after their US tour last April, the album is made up of first takes with no overdubs - a rawness complementing the frustration they felt towards being engulfed by the USA, swallowed by a lie, staring into stark reality. The songs representing their disaffection at conceding that everywhere proved just as hostile as they hoped it wasn't.
Musically, 'Blanket Over Your Eyes' is a darker and more apocalyptic recording, more reflective of their intense live performances. 'More Escapism' is an insurgent shard of riotcore, exploring the way individuals are stifled by social convention and the media's persistent mantra of goodwill. While 'Sad For Sale' is an anti-emo anthem, criticising the way depression is coopted by the youth industry. However, the bleak nature of these songs is tempered by the inclusion of four bonus live tracks, taken from their emotional last gig, a defiant reminder that hope is the last thing you should give up.
This record provides a powerful testimony of a band in the process of self destruction. Yet this is not to say that it provides an unremittingly bleak experience for the listener. Indeed the final song offers up many a glimmer of hope. For instance it is no coincidence that the final lyrics declare from the rooftops that "We are not powerless!", passing the baton onwards, a call to arms shot across barricade of inert existence. This is an end for Cat On Form, but not the end by no means.
