Summer Cats : Songs For Tuesdays :: ReviewJuly 17, 2009
As the summer doldrums kick in and the heat ratchets to 110 degrees in the shade, things can become fairly listless. If you need a musical cure for the hot and humid days ahead give Summer Cat’s album “Songs For Tuesdays” a spin. This Melbourne, Australia quintet play upbeat pop songs in a Stereolab-meets Go Betweens style that demand your attention and deserve to be played loud. While Summer Cats aren’t the type of band that require existential thought to get they should not be slighted either as there’s nothing wrong with simply tearing things up.
Summer Cats cover a lot of ground quickly in the 13 tracks on “Songs For Tuesdays” as the entire disc is 32 minutes long. Summer Cats are consistently great pop songwriters on this album as there is no room for filler. Every track seems to be a corker whether it is spiky, jangly or woozy. Opener “Let’s Go” kicks things off right out of the gate as a distorted guitar lick blends nicely with a wobbly organ and is followed by a manic vocal.
Summer Cats also trade up on the vocals and that makes for an engaging listen as displayed on “Fulton Girls” and the Velocity Girl-ish duet of “In June.” “In June” is a super solid track that also reminds me of vintage R.E.M with its Rickenbacker twang. The Stereolab influence is apparent on “Lonely Planet” and the spinning “ St. Tropez.” When an album is this smart, it’s really hard to pick out other standouts other than listing the entire track listing and going the whole track-by-track route. If this album has a fault, it might be the tight time constraint as you will wish these songs stayed a bit longer. File this one under impressive debuts!
4 1/2 Stars
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