EP Review :: Cat Bear Tree - Let's Share Hearts

Cat Bear Tree

Let's Share Hearts

August 5 2013 (Self-release)

9/10


Words: Dave Beech

Years ago, the DIY aesthetic belonged, almost completely, to a generation of punks and counter-culturists; a generation that was maligned by the mainstream, yet one that viewed it's naysayers with equally high contempt. However, in this day and age, when almost every band is signed to some form of label or another, and majors are avoided like the plague more often than not, it seems that the DIY route is the route of choice for more than a select few bands. One such band is London's Cat Bear Tree. A trio of lasses whose music is a delightfully moreish blend of riot grrrl sensibilities with a smattering of post-punk ambition, topped off with a saccharine pop veneer that masks the energy beneath it.

Rather than opting to release an EP as soon as they had enough material, Cat Bear Tree (named as such after “a kick ass cat and a cowardly bear”) chose to spend the two years since their inception, honing, sharpening and diversifying their sound until it reached such a point that they were happy to commit their music to record with the end result being their blistering début 'Let's Share Hearts'. Comprised of six tracks, the record crackles and pops with unrelenting energy and swoons with the grace of twee-pop. Opener 'Blind' asserts a sense of musical maturity and melancholy from the band and subverts any misconceptions that an opener needs to grab your attention in a chokehold in order to sustain it. Instead, the track is delicate and fragile (as far as Cat Bear Tree go, that is) and exhibits some impressive three part vocal harmonies.

Conversely, both 'Tournaments' and 'Masqueraders' suggests a darker, more oppressive side to the band's music, a facet indebted wholly to the bands post-punk tendencies. The latter in particular suggests a further maturity to both song-writing and the instrumentation at the bands disposal, proving irrevocably that it's better to wait and record rather than lay down the first songs one churns out; this has enabled them to juxtapose genres effortlessly next to each other, sometimes even within a single track and serves only to heighten the sense that what you're listening to is something truly special.

Perhaps controversially, 'Let's Share Hearts' ends with what many would deem a track perfect for opening a record or even a live set. 'Crayons' is an off-kilter and abrasive affair that summarises everything it is the band stand for. Here melodic vocals twist in and out of a muted guitar and tenacious bass in a cacophony of post-folk-twee-punk that's evocative of bands such as Johnny Foreigner. It's with this track that everything Cat Bear Tree stands for manifests itself perfectly; melody and aggression, harmony and abrasion, it's all present and it ticks all the right boxes.

It's clear that the two years of gigging before the release of 'Let's Share Hearts' has benefited the band massively. Each of the six tracks featured are expertly crafted post-pop outings that deserve equal esteem. Rather than serve as a platform for one stand-alone track and a couple of token fillers, this EP should viewed as a single entity; a fully-functioning record that displays the very best of the band's capabilities and, hopefully, foreshadows the calibre of the band's first full-length release, whenever that may be.