Fantastic Cat, our favorite superband of the moment, releases their second album. “Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat” It’s just what we expected: an excellent collection of enthusiastic songs that reclaim the power of melodies and the joy of living. Rolling Stone baptized them as “the supergroup you need to know” and Dirty Rock placed them on the podium of favorite bands after their excellent show at the Take Root Festival. Brian Dunne, Anthony D’Amato, Don DiLego and Mike Montali, all taking turns at the composition, at the microphone and at the instruments, have done it again. And possibly better than his debut “The Very Best Of Fantastic Cat”. The album is released on Missing Piece Records.
Listen “Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat” here:
While the group’s debut was the fruit of a few weekends of camaraderie in the countryside, sharing individual songs, this second album finds the band writing collectively for the first time. Each composer showcases his or her strengths and amplifies them by collaborating with his or her peers. The fantasy cat themes create a romantic yet absurd portrait of a modern world populated by cheap heroes, disenchanted dreamers and workers with no future. The songs here are both hopeful and biting, with lyrics full of disappointment that come to life in the lively and infectious performances of four masters of harmonies and arrangements.
What was a side project – and an excuse to put on cat masks – has been growing exponentially. In the last year, Tiny Desk, Bonnaroo, Cayamo, CBS Saturday Morning, the Sundance festival, placed a song in the Tulsa King series, recorded with Butch Walker a version of “Band On The Run” on its fiftieth anniversary, … That along with tours both alone (selling out tickets in almost all the venues) or with artists like the great Low Cut Connie, with whom they have spent the spring playing in such legendary venues as The Troubadour in Los Ángeles or The Fillmore in San Francisco.
«We set out to do something that, as fans, we felt was missing in the current music scene. A collection of adventurous, strange and sincere but strange material designed to make you laugh and cry. There is a looseness that was missing in our own solo work and something that all the great bands had, but at some point they stopped having.
“Oh Man”, the opening song is pure party, a song lost in the 70s, with the vitality of Jeff Lynne’s productions. Many bands would kill for a single like that. “Little Bit Broken” It is pure New York rock, reminiscent a bit of the hymns that Jesse Malin also knows how to write. Without going any further, Don DiLego, one of the cats, has been his collaborator for years. Great guitars and a very imaginative arrangement define the song. “Later On” It is one of the star songs, with those trademark harmonies that they know how to carry so well live. They exchange solo voices and the question remains, who sings better? Impossible to answer.
It is clear that The Band is an important reference. “So Glad You Made It” It is pure American rock in the style of the band that many of us consider the highlight of the genre. We won’t hear many hymns like this this year. “The Hammer And The Nail” It is an acoustic song with a nostalgic touch a la Ronnie Lane narrating the ups and downs of life. Sometimes you are the hammer, sometimes you are the nail. “I Don’t Know Why” It is a song that Alex Chilton and Paul McCartney could have signed in an imaginary collaboration. “Go All Night” is a playful rock and roll that we can imagine as the highlight of their concerts, while “Edinburgh” It slides through a Stony riff and some very well-constructed choruses.
«We all see this band as “the sky is the limit”. We felt something really special when we all played together, rotating instruments for each song, jumping all over the stage. And I think we have a classic record inside us. Someday we will record it.”
“Sometimes Your Heroes Let You Down” It is almost a protest topic. With an almost gospel tone and a trademark nostalgic melody, it is not difficult to think that they are talking about the Ticketmaster dynamic tickets scandal. Is Springsteen the hero they talk about? They have denied it in an interview. “All My Fault” It is another of the gems of the album. Written just before their first show at the Bowery Ballroom, just when they realized they didn’t have enough songs to make a concert of any decent length. A song that defines what this project is: an escape against all the seriousness of the music business. “Head Down, Shots Fired” It seems like its contribution to the classic soft rock songbook until the final guitar duel arrives, which turns it into something else. A fantastic closing for one of the albums of the year.
