Tigercats - Mysteries (2015)

East London s Tigercats return with their new album and first release for Fortuna POP! Mysteries is vividly emotional and sonically expansive, blending the very best of indiepop with complex song structures, lush production and beautiful arrangements. Tigercats combine the talents of songwriter, singer and guitarist Duncan Barrett with his brother Giles on bass, Laura Kovic on keyboards and vocals, and Jonny Evans on drums, as well as recent recruit Paul Rains from Allo Darlin on guitar. And on Mysteries they re joined by living legend Terry Edwards (Gallon Drunk / Tindersticks), who contributes saxophone and trumpet on several tracks. Tigercats have toured across Europe, playing at Primavera and appearing on Spanish TV, while back in the UK they ve appeared at both Indietracks and End of the Road festivals. They ve also toured in the USA and Canada, their last trip culminating in a headline appearance at NYC Popfest. Mysteries is the 2nd album from Tigercats, described by The Sunday Times as a very, very good band.... The kind of band that make you want to be a teenager again, so they can be your band. Debut Isle of Dogs fizzed with jangly punk, afro rhythms and spoken word sections, while Mysteries is a sophisticated pop record, effervescent and spirited, with care and love poured into every song. What makes a very, very good band even better? 2 years of heavy touring for one, bringing them closer as a band but also pushing themselves and honing their skills. Many of the songs on the album have been live staples, starting off one way and mutating in to something totally different, giving the songs time to grow and develop before heading in to the studio. And once they did head in, bassist Giles Barrett s day job at London s legendary Soup Studios allowed the band nearly unlimited time to get deeper in to the recording process so deep that it verged on insanity. As Giles says, We took every song as far as it could possibly go. Highlights include album opener Junior Champion , a pop gem in the shape of bishops, knights, kings and queens - a Bobby Fischer-referencing love song and anthem for chess fans everywhere - and Wheezer , of which Duncan says cagily, I don t want to say what this song is about, the record s not called Mysteries for nothing. Although this one is just a small, silly mystery and it should be pretty easy to work out - the clue is in the title . The album closer, the gorgeous, woozy Wendy & Lisa , sees Duncan referencing another of his musical obsessions, saying, This is the result of reading too many terrible Prince biographies and conflating The Revolution s private lives with my own in dreams. Although Duncan is the vocalist for most of the songs, Laura takes the lead on two, the dreamy Saint Etienne-esque Laura & Cesar (based on two minor characters in Roberto Bolaño s novel The Savage Detectives), and the forthcoming single, the fabulous Sleeping in the Backseat Mysteries is the sound of a band of outstanding musicians fulfilling their potential and using their talents in the studio to realise their musical vision, retaining their infectious hooks, their heart and their sheer danceability, and coupling it with a bright new contemporary sound. Superbly crafted and full of personality, Tigercats second album suggests that they won t remain a mystery much longer. // An indiepop band you can dance to. That s actually rarer than you d think. - Neon Filler 10/10 // A manifesto for what it means to be alive, to be in London and to be living life... if I was 16 right now I d think this album was sent to save my life. Artrocker // A record that is full of personality, vitality, and even youthful rebellion, the sort of record that very well might reinvigorate indiepop. - Drowned in Sound