All Blackshirts to Me

by Cats on Fire

Overview

The long-running Scandinavian indie poppers Cats on Fire took their time developing their sound over the course of a handful of sporadically released singles and albums in their first decade of existence. All Blackshirts to Me is the band's third proper album, following a singles collection and 2009's Smiths-seeped Our Temperance Movement. The album's meticulous arrangements and sublime production speak to the band's fastidious attention to detail, and over the course of the 12 songs, Cats on Fire sculpt a crystal-clear, acoustic-leaning indie pop sound that borrows heavy from classic indie heroes but filters them through the band's collective personality. Singer and principal songwriter Mattias Bjoerkas' vocals take on the same removed affectation as those of Adam Olenius, lead singer for the band's Swedish contemporaries Shout Out Louds. Both singers' emulations of '80s indie goth icons like Morrissey and the Cure's Robert Smith aim for the essence of those influences, but their own unique perspectives and songwriting quirks factor in, making the end result something further removed than simple mimicry. A similar phenomena happens in a larger sense with Cats on Fire as a whole. They have always worn their influences pretty heavy on their sleeve, be it the dour college rock of the Smiths, Felt, and Orange Juice, the breezy wistfulness of the Go-Betweens, or even touches of Elvis Costello's acidic power pop. Tracks like "It's Clear Your Former Lover" and "A Few Empty Waves" brim with the same confessional feel of vintage Robyn Hitchcock or Verlaines tracks, but somewhere between Ville Hopponen's burning guitar tones and Bjoerkas' odd lyrics about travel, drinking, and smashing guitars, the songs take on a shape all their own. "After the Fact" is much the same, starting with a choppy pop beat but quickly adding delayed mandolin strums, floating vocals, and an oddly disjointed bridge, taking the song out of Smiths territory into uncharted waters. All Blackshirts to Me transcends its influences through interesting production and writing choices like these. In the end, the album feels like a very personal and slightly awkward diary entry set to music, mirroring some favorite bands but still focused on saying something new. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	03/27/2012
Label:	Matin?E
UPC:	0884501690799

Tracks

1. Our Old Centre Back
2. My Sense of Pride
3. A Different Light
4. There Goes the Alarm
5. After the Fact
6. The Sea Within You
7. 1914 and Beyond
8. Well Well What Do You Know
9. Smash It to Pieces
10. It's Clear Your Former Lover
11. A Few Empty Waves
12. Finnish Lace

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Cats on Fire   Primary Artist
Ville Hopponen   Percussion,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Bass,Drums,Kalimba
Einar Ekstroem   Vibraphone
Yrjoe Ylijoki   Drums
Niklas Andersson   Vocals
Mattias Bjoerkas   Vocals,Keyboards,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Iiris Viljanen   Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Kenneth Hoeglund   Guitar (Bass)

Technical Credits

Ville Hopponen   Arranger,Group Member
Mathias Schlegel   Piano Engineer
Yrjoe Ylijoki   Group Member
Karolina Eriksson   Design
Cats on Fire   Mixing,Engineer
Nick Triani   Mixing,Engineer
Philip Granqvist   Mastering
Mattias Bjoerkas   Arranger,Composer,Lyricist,Group Member
Iiris Viljanen   Composer,Group Member
Kenneth Hoeglund   Group Member
Noora Isoeskeli   Cover Photo