Review Summary: Excellent debut from a youthful, not just young, progressive post-hardcore act with enough of a dance edge balancing against their prog elements to stand out, albeit not immensely.
Post-hardcore is a genre I have wide but technically limited exposure to, given my hipster friends will find any excuse to plug Fall Of Troy, Protest The Hero and especially Closure In Moscow in our internet DJ sessions. Thus I was exposed to Florida-based act Cat Company in the same way, with their lead single Sad Dance grabbing my attention the same way Numbers by Frost* did all those years ago. At the same time, the fact I was drawn in was a testament to their power even that soon because I could never say I was a huge fan of a lot of the genre, especially acts like Dance Gavin Dance with a patchy approach to experimentation versus raw aggression. And again, I think it says something about Cat Company they can escape a lot of my usual irks with this sound, and what we have is an impressive debut effort.
First of all, as a lot of my favourite musical artists (and favourite pieces of media in general) tend to do, Cat Company treads the line between popular sensibilities, artful expression and experimentation and exciting and raw energy. Lead vocalist Jay Christian does clean and guttural vocals in about equal measure, and their placement versus each other is tasteful, with some harmonic self-backing passages going against an overlay of his growls, particularly towards the end of Sad Dance and Morpheus The Black. In general, Sad Dance makes for an excellent pick for the single because it's the track that most closely sticks to verse-chorus, but even then the "chorus" passage only repeats once, and many of the songs are built up on a few different passages of catchy, melodic riffs that pile up on each other. But rather than being a disaster where nothing has room to breathe, they all have room to shine, and interweave with each other, though on some tracks more than others.
The highlight in this regard, and likely overall, is probably Sad Dance, with a great understanding of "yin and yang" songwriting, where no element outweighs or overpowers one another, the progressions make sense and the lyrical dissonance is engaging, the youthful ennui on display matching the growling vocals but contrasting with the happy tones of the instrumentation in a way that still emphasises the band's youth, right down to the inclusion of a short chiptune rendition of the track at the very end, which was a smart decision as it highlights another root of the band's sound and especially describes where their penchant for guitar driven melodies comes from. You can easily tell what did and did not change from their meeting of Japanese retro game music with modern post-hardcore rock, with the guitar's fast arpeggio line represented by a bleepy bloopy arpeggio line and a vocal melody sung by another chip-synth, but with the drum track being so simple you can tell the upgrade to the rock suite was an improvement to the composition.
But their big takeaway from chiptune's spirit of direction is the sense of energy it provides, demonstrated across the board but coming through especially strong on Kusanagi. Opening with a blazing fast drum and guitar line, it weaves up and down in speed but sounds monstrous all the way through, with the riffs cutting through with an intensity among the highest on the EP. It also demonstrates a light harkening back to 70s neo-disco, with a choppy wah funk guitar in the middle, a trend continued in Firestarter's accented outro. But rather than sounding like half-baked musical ideas, they fit in just fine with the overall mood of bravado and fun that NeCo provide.
And again, those latter three tracks are very good at showcasing the potential for dynamic that this genre has, with slowdowns, dips, bangs and climaxes in just the right places to remain exciting. Firestarter especially stands out; as a kinda long prog-tinged hardcore track with various faux-bridges and an out of nowhere solo, it taps into something Coheed & Cambria had in their heyday. The only track I'm really down on is the intro, Maroon Sweater, sounding the least playful and expressive and just, well, cutting too close to the bone with this band's influences. Dance Gavin Dance's big problem is that they never knew how to meaningfully make their melodic side stand out against their abrasive experimentation without compromising the latter facet, and Maroon Sweater definitely falls into that trap. It's still a fun listen, but it is measurably more forgettable than the rest of it.
I'd also be hard-pressed to say I'm completely happy with the mixing. Specifically, the bass should have been brought up a tad and a bit more crunch added to the guitars in dense, dance-focused passages. Again, this would have helped distance them from their peers. Leaning into their pop side without giving in to it is difficult, but something the band should consider going forward. That said, the layering of the guitars, especially when multiple riffs are on top of one another, is excellent, helping accentuate the whole package.
In general, I really like where Cat Company is going, but if you never cared for post-hardcore's fast arpeggios and descending ladder patterns, even the more pop sensibilities of this group won't convince you. But I think they have it in them to make a name for themselves on this scene. Really, I'm just happy they're this compositionally talented this early into the game, even if they need just a tiny bit more variety in their tone and approach. But I believe they can do it on the strength of the material they have. They know to match their fast playing and technical proficiency with a sense of urgency and fun without compromising their skill, as I would argue much of FOT's In The Unlikely Event did. Their attention to detail without missing the bigger picture makes Cat Company a serious contender in the genre already, provided they can keep up their momentum. This EP might not sit up with the titans of the genre yet, but one day, Florida's five probably easily could.
