EPTThe Cat Empire is (according to wikipedia anyway) a melbourne based jazz and ska influenced band of some notoriety. They are legendary for their live performances and also the depth and breadth of their musical styles and talents. They earned the nickname 'the band with no guitar' for... well, you can guess. Today, I'm going to take you on a journey through the evolution of this singular creature.
TCE started as a pub and party band back in 1999 and got a little early recognition that gave them the opportunity to make a name for themselves on tour. Boy did they. Their early work was, as wikipedia attests, primarily a jazz/ska/reggae fusion style, heavy on brass and percussion thanks to the proclivities of the two lead members. These same two really defined the tone of the band through their voices- Felix Ruebel's sly, cheeky accent and Harry Angus's virtuoso tenor which could shift seamlessly into homeboy roughness. Combined with a particularly talented keyboardist, the three set out to take over the world, or at least the dancefloor.
The early tracklist of TCE is heavily dominated by light, quirky and incredibly energetic party music celebrating a laid back and positive attitude to everything. It often has a note of coyness or parody woven in, parodying musicians who take themselves a bit to seriously. The overall result is the impression of an incredibly confident, vivacious and infectiously enthusiastic group of buddies out for the night. Some exemplars of this period are
Part of the unique character of the band comes from the fact that Felix (singer in the chariot) is the versatile percussionist, so his songs generally have more emphasis on melodics and instrumentality while he's focused on singing. Harry (singer in one four five) is the band's primary trumpet player and so his songs generally have a more rythmic feel with felix focused on percussion, often venturing into hip hop or even parody rap, though often they are interrupted by epic horn solos.
As they established themselves, the band began to experiment, bringing in a dedicated horn section, guest singers, strings and a variety of less common instruments including a signature splash of Melodica. They also began to try different tones and styles more frequently. The first of these tracks to make an album was Miserere, which while it has the same overall positive message as most cat empire songs, is stylistically a full 180 from their infectiously upbeat and energetic work up till that point
This combination of stylistic variation and an increasingly broad palette of themes and tones really defines the development of the band. Over their next few albums, TCE played with just about every possible combination of the talents and skills available to them. Every album had a good splash of their traditional party music, but many of the standout tracks are wonderfully different. Here are a few standouts
Song for the day brings in the full horn section and some female backing vocals for a swanky jazz feeling, while keeping a few moments of the delightfully weird DJ electronica that features in most TCE songs.
Song for Elias is a vocally focused duet, intimate and gentle with a soft, impro jazz keyboard and bass backdrop.
No longer there is a lush but sad track mostly backed by electronic organ and accoustic guitar, with Harry's trumpet solos to provide colour. It's distinctive for the content as much as the tone, inspired by environmental degradation and resource abuse. Far from the party-fun content of TCE's portfolio.
The darkness wouldn't feel out of place in a classy zombie horror game, a latin influenced, hauntingly creepy build. Backed by double bass, violin, concert piano and tamba, it's really set up perfectly by Harry's vocal range and tone which goes from sounding relaxed and laid back in most songs to slightly unhinged here.
Of course, they keep up with the happy, funky music as well, a particular favourite of mine is 'fishies'
As we reach towards more recent years, TCE's output becomes slower, but they begin to smoothly combine all the different styles with which they have messed over their years. Their work becomes richer, more heavily produced and instrumented. Rather than veering wildly between roguishly hip and powerfully haunting, more recent TCE works often find the middle ground- upbeat, energetic but also lush and poetic. Cinema, their latest album, feels like the first album in which one can give the band a distinct genre and interestingly, it is one of their own. You can say it's inspired by X or has influences of Y, but really they've arrived at a place where no one else comes close. Cinema is characterised by a more poetic, anthemic style of track and features the least simple, laid back, funky music of any of their albums. I love it, but it was a little sad to see them move away from their roots. Some examples of this new style are:
(EMI apparently hates australia, you can look up the studio tracks on youtube if you're outside AU)
So, TCE has recently announced a new item and released a track to promote it. I was over the moon to see this, because it somehow captures the whole of TCE's portfolio. It's certainly a party track, great for dancing or chilling, but it has a kind of dark undercurrent, a rich and slightly discordant taste to it as well. It's a track that finally combines the exuberance of their early work with the rich poetry and texture of their recent stuff. Both harry and felix sing together, kind of a rarity. It feels like a coming together of a lot of things.
I'm really excited to see what's on the new album, whether it's a callback to the old days or something new. I hope this has been an interesting journey through the history of a musical family, and perhaps that I've made some new TCE fans. At the very least, I hope I got some fingers clicking
Cheers
Saurus
