A band I admittedly hadn’t heard of prior to the PR getting in touch and a music style that sits in the grey area on the edge of what we cover has been an unholy duo for me in the past, so I have a level of trepidation as I have my first listen through. Quite quickly, I realised that in this case…
…I could not have been more wrong. While indie-pop is not generally my thing too much, there is much more to Catholic Action and this sophomore release than that genre definition would have you believe. There is ’60s garage and psychedelia pervading throughout, while tracks like ‘People Don’t Protest Enough’ put me very much in mind of Gary Numan’s ‘We Are Glass’, whilst still having that Franz Ferdinand-like take on all of the above, linking it all together expertly.
Last single ‘One Of Us’ picked up a lot of traction in more mainstream areas, such as BBC Radio and that ilk, which is understandable given their heady mix of the above genres in their musical blending, though I don’t think either that nor ‘People Don’t Protest Enough’, the new single that’s picking up as much traction as the previous, are the best songs on the album. The song order works well, starting with the deliberately cacophonous beginning of ‘Grange Hell (South London in D)’ immediately grabbing the attention so you can’t help but stop if you’re doing anything else, while album closer ‘Four Guitars (For Scottish Independence)’ could not be more of a Beatles inspired psychedelia anthem if John, Paul and co had replaced it with one of their own such tracks. Vocal harmonies galore inspiring soaring sonic sensations make it a fantastic way to finish it all off – and be my pick of the tracks from a strong release.
Despite my misgivings prior to the first listen, I have thoroughly enjoyed listening through this on repeat for over a day now. For fans of The Beatles, Gary Numan’s earlier Tubeway Army works and the more melodic end of modern Indie, this release is full of ear grabbing anthems that you will want to sing along to in the middle of a gig…well, after all this Covid-19 bullshit finally pisses off!
- ‘Celebrated By Strangers’ is released on Friday (27 March). You can get your copy HERE.
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