“Face the Future” came like a glass of water in the middle of the desert. In a world preoccupied to be the loudest, the fastest, the most distorted and the most contorted, where everybody is in such a hurry and nobody actually care about anything and anybody, Cats Park disconnected me for several minutes from this whole madness. Although songs like “Time To Quit” have their own flavor of (urban) madness. But generally speaking, this made me feel easy, easy like a Sunday morning. 🙂 “Face the Future” was my little getaway from the present.
We’ve got 5 tracks, the most sophisticate, complex and experimental is the mentioned “Time To Quit” with a few explosive moments and a more intense groove then the rest of the tracks. Cats Park works with gently pulsing electronic layers and smooth, Jazz perfumed pianos with minimalist, discrete rhythmic, creating the perfect Downtempo atmosphere. The mainly whispering voice of Faijee is simultaneously sexy and distant/cold, reminds me of Nina Persson of The Cardigans. Cats Park use the vocals as integrated instrument in the whole ambiance and not as leading one, not as focus point. As well the guitar performances of Alexey Andreev are smoothly part of the songs, giving color to the composition, but never coming up in front, taking leads, solos. This mixture of Dream Pop, Trip-Hop, Chill Out, Downtempo is about creating emotions and ambiances, and Cats Park find their own charming recipe.
Fans of A.I.R., Morcheeba, The Cardigans, Portishead, This Mortal Coil will definitively enjoy Cats Park as well.
The Cats Park story began in spring of 2010, when a bass guitarist Alexey Andreev met Faijee, a jazz vocalist. The former, having participated in various bands, had an urge to flesh out his own musical ideas and record the material that he had accumulated. The latter, having had lots of work experience on the jazz scene, wanted to unleash the darker side of her creative nature. Both Alex and Faijee felt too restricted by the framework of genre standards and stereotypes they had previously worked with in abundance. They wanted to create and experiment freely.
Studio work began almost immediately. Alex wrote the music, made arrangements and recorded the majority of the material’s music content. Faijee wrote the lyrics and created melodic lines. Session musicians were also engaged. The recording was made in best Saint Petersburg studios. A young talented sound engineer Roman Urazov was engaged to work on the material. Together with Alexey Andreev he also co-produced the record. On top of that, in pursuit of perfect sound Cats Park spoke to Abbey Road, the famous London-based studio, which, among other things, provides mastering services. The recorded tracks were sent to Abbey Road, where they were mastered based on the Cats Park suggestions by Christian Wright, whose track record includes work with Muse, Keane and Franz Ferdinand, as well as other bands. The recorded material formed the basis for the debut EP “Face the Future”, released in April 2012.
These songs tell stories both eternal and ever-relevant: they’re about love and human relationships, which is why they can touch anyone’s heart.
The band puts just as much effort into thoroughly visualizing its work. In particular, collaboration with Starbox Production experts resulted in a spectacular and expressive music video for Your Love is a Sin. Since July 16, 2011 the video is featured on YouTube and has been included for rotation by several Internet TV channels. On top of that in summer of 2011 a live show video was recorded and uploaded online as Live from the Placement. The video features a full-fledged band, where Alex and Faijee are accompanied by musicians who had been acquainted with the finished material. That is not a standard way of work, since usually first a band is made up, and the music comes next. However, Cats Park do not want to follow the trodden path. They are interested in experimenting and absolute freedom of expression. And they believe that it is precisely the way to achieve success and touch the hearts of the audience.
The band’s short-term plans include live shows, festival appearances and release of a long-play album in fall of 2012.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW5KclF-nRc&w=545&h=307]
Alex Andreev – bass, guitar, keyboards (1-5)
Faijee – vocal (1-5)
Anton Ernezaks – Vermona (3,5)
Alexander Kuchansky – guitar (4)
Konstantin Smirnov – drums (1-5)
Recorded & Mixed by Roman Urazov («Dobrolet», «Galernaya20» St.Petersburg)
Mastering – Christian Wright («Abbey Road», London)
Photo – A.Fisher
Released on April 20th, 2012.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfaHWI5GAo&w=545&h=409]
