An exciting new Cork-based quintet, MRS.CAT have been slaving over the five tracks on their debut EP for the past few months and slipped W&H a three-track work-in-progress version a short while back to whet the appetite.
Although it's being released in a low-key way (mostly for sale at the band's gigs), the complete "The Wrong Leaves" is an excellent - and diverse - introduction to a band who are blending semi-acoustic pop, indie guitar sounds and subtle Celtic folk in a haunting and attractive fashion, so I would recommend you get in at the ground floor here.
The EP opens with the sound of a bicycle bell and then the insistent strumming and brushed drums of "Sliding Colliding", which is world-weary, quietly poppy and built around Karl Glass's assertive harmonies and some nimble, see-sawing violin. Reference points would include The Waterboys and fellow Cork songsmith Niall Connolly, but are by no means mutually exclusive. Mrs.Cat have something all their own.
The record continues with "Media Song", arguably your reviewer's favourite tune here and the most immediate of the five tracks. This time it's Mark McClelland's nippy, almost-Motown bassline that drives the song along, with more spot-on harmonies and a welcome, blaring harmonica also starring. Glass's lyrics are wonderfully wry and the song's kiss-off chorus "If you believe what the media say, then you'll probably never leave the house today" is something everyone can relate to.
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"Media Song" really hits the spot for this writer, but the ensuing "Joytown" comes up swiftly on the rails after a few listens. The sad, circus-leaves-town storyboard is wistful and effective, while the arrangement is subtle and jazzy with flecks of piano, drifting sax and congas all embellishing. An understated treat and no mistake.
"For You" is the fourth and last real song here, and is by some way the most dramatic, desolate sounding thing Mrs.Cat have recorded to date. The skirling strings, rolling drums and Glass's shaky vocals (sample: "without you the sun refuses to shine") all spur the tune to intricate, rollercoaster heights, and the wisps of Spanish-style guitar help accentuate the melody no end.
Closing track "Prophecy" isn't really a song as such, just a 50-second ambient sliver with (I think) E-bow and soundtrack tendencies, but it's not a bad way to sign off anyway, and certainly retains the interest as the EP takes the chequered flag.
"The Wrong Leaves", then, is an intriguing, mature and happily difficult to pigeonhole first salvo from a band we should, by rights, be hearing much more from. The queue starts here.
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