When it was announced earlier this year that the leather-wearing northerners would be returning with new material, it prompted the usual eager clamouring amongst their ever-expanding fan base. Would they be changing their style? Would their rise to fame see them lose that down-to-earth commentary which characterised their debut? Would they retain their non-mainstream charm? These questions were answered with the release of The Ride late last month.
The answer: nearly everything has remained the same, the one word song titles, the intense high energy, the floppy, non-mainstream haircuts. The album is so similar to its predecessor that many have labelled it a consolidation of The Balcony's material. Sonically, however, they remain certainly far from tired, with the ability to produce quality, seemingly original tunes from essentially the same ingredients, albeit more nuanced this time around.
While the tone remains fairly similar between the two records and thus makes them seem rather alike at the surface, the progress is far more apparent within the intricacies of each song. For example, its clear to note the advances in the complexity and experimentation of the lead guitar in songs like Anything, Postpone and Soundcheck with a few cheeky distorted solos featuring in the latter two. This is also the case with the rhythm guitar with McCann straying from the more basic chord patterns in the background to a set of far more intricate backing riffs.
It also seems to me that they have let some of their early musical influences really shine through with the jangly high pitched guitar and what I'll call the vocal distortion (that thing where it sounds like he's singing through a radio) of The Strokes coming through in Emily. as well as the lullabic vocals/guitar-picking of The Kooks (who they supported on tour last year) on Glasgow. However it would be ridiculous to ignore the most obvious influence of all, Mr Noel Gallagher and Oasis, whom the quartet have always idolised. In the verses of Postpone, the piercing solo of Red and basically the entirety of Oxygen (hugely similar in structure to Oasis' The Importance Of Being Idle), we can see Gallagher's influence, not just thanks to their shared producer, Dave Sardy, but to a sound which became entrenched among a generation of young songwriters hoping to emulate their style.
This influence goes beyond sound and style alone, but is strongly rooted within the lyrics as well, One of McCann's greatest strengths is his lyric-writing style which is the most transparent link to their Mancunian heroes. NME perfectly summed this up as 'Everyman lyricism'; the content is not far-fetched or metaphorical so as to be truly reflective of audiences. Who gives a toss about metaphors and pathetic fallacy anyway? Not McCann: he talks of catching a girl "on her fag break" who later wakes up "just to join me to smoke". There are so many references to smoking, The Ride is basically an audio advert for the tobacco industry. Yet in this lies a unique charm. They depict the de-romanticised stories of ordinary people, thus abandoning any lofty status and coming down towards the level of the audiences.
Catfish's sound is really geared towards the live performance, allowing them to generate an incredible atmosphere at any venue they play. We had already seen this to some extent in The Balcony but its clear that they have added the experience of a year of touring. Perhaps this is most obvious in the extended bridges and solos of Anything, Soundcheck and 7 which will be clearly adapted during the live performance.
So while it may not be the most adventurous of records, it would be a mistake to claim that it is the 'same' as the last, Instead, I reckon they might be 'doing a Mumford & Sons', with this album really consolidating their now dominating presence in alternative music and enabling them to be more bold in the future. There are some truly great songs in this album, Oxygen and Outside standing out for me as favourites. However, they are yet to find their Wonderwall or I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor, an anthem which really categorises their overall quality. That being said, they really are on the way to doing so.
