matcd052
CATS ON FIRE – OUR TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Tracklisting:
1. Horoscope
2. Lay Down Your Arms
3. Letters From A Voyage To Sweden
4. Never Sell The House
5. The Steady Pace
6. Tears In Your Cup
7. Garden Lights
8. The Borders Of This Land
9. Our Days In The Sun
10. Fabric
Accomplished second album from fashionable Finnish pop foursome Cats on Fire. The band’s debut album ‘The Province Complains’ was released in 2007 to widespread acclaim, earning favorable comparisons to indie legends The Smiths, Felt, Orange Juice, Pulp, and Belle & Sebastian, among others. All Music Guide declared it “a classic-in-waiting filled with durable, memorable, carefully constructed songs, almost any one of which could have been a single;” while NME called it “an indie-pop hallelujah” and Q Magazine wrote “Cats on Fire hit a high mark few other earnest young men can get near.”
The new album ‘Our Temperance Movement’ is even better still, demonstrating the band’s flair for delivering sumptuous jangle pop with enticing melodies and intelligent lyrics. The album expands upon the traditional guitar, bass, and drums with liberal bursts of piano, organ, clarinet, banjo, glockenspiel and other percussion which help to showcase the extraordinary style of singer Mattias Björkas and his poetic, sardonic, and rather eccentric take on the world.
Among the album’s many highlights, ‘Horoscope’ tackles a classic relationship challenge with a lovely dose of female backing vocals, while ‘The Borders Of This Land’ is jaunty, smart continental pop with just the right amount of attitude. Meanwhile, ‘Letters From A Voyage To Sweden’ sets the tale of a seedy ferry ride between Scandinavian countries to jangling guitars, and ‘The Steady Pace’ opens with a double entendre before layering in Spanish guitars and building to an absolutely soaring chorus. Perhaps the best of the bunch, however, is infectious indie hit ‘Tears In Your Cup’ which boasts shimmering guitars and an overall panache that will have you reaching for the repeat button straightaway.
Inspired, confident, and incredibly well executed, ‘Our Temperance Movement’ is top shelf indiepop from one of the most exciting bands today.
For band information, soundclips, and more release details please see the catalog and artist pages, or visit the Matinée and Cats on Fire pages on Myspace. You can hear three songs on the Matinée sounds page, or tracks from the album rotating weekly on MySpace, or 30-second samples of all the songs on iTunes. You can also watch a great video for ‘Tears in Your Cup’ if you click here. The CD is available now in the Matinée shop and from select record emporiums across the globe.
The band has nearly a dozen shows scheduled over the next month but sadly all of them are in Finland or Germany…except one headlining the New York City popfest on May 15th, yes way! We were unsuccessful in our attempts to lure them to California but will hopefully entice them back over soon. For complete show details please visit the Cats on Fire website.
As we reported last month, the new album from Gothenburg, Sweden quartet The Electric Pop Group is entitled ‘Seconds’ (matcd053) and contains 10 fantastic new songs. Although it’s possibly too early to call, our early favorites are called ‘Out of Sight’ and ‘The Way It Used To Do’ although ‘Into Thin Air’ and ‘We Never Made Up Our Minds’ are fairly stunning as well. As we wait for the final master, we are pleased to report that the band is set to play three UK shows this month—May 14th in London, May 15th in Stoke-on-Trent, and May 16th in Nottingham. Please see complete details on the band’s 
Copenhagen, Denmark trio Northern Portrait are also set to return to a new release shelf near you soon with their debut album ‘Criminal Art Lovers’ (matcd054)! The band are still working on the final mixes but the preview tracks we have heard are incredible to say the least, especially ‘Münchausen in Me’ and ‘New Favourite Moment’ and ‘When Goodness Falls’ which are favorites on the office stereo this week. The band is also heading to the UK this month to preview songs from the new album, playing May 14th in London, May 15th in Oxford, May 16th in Nottingham, and May 20th in Birmingham. Please see complete details on the band’s 
Finally, the fantastic new release from Cats on Fire is the new number one on the hit parade. Here are the top sellers for the month of April if you feel the need to keep up with the joneses:
Now here is a lesson for all you aspiring pop bands out there. The old cliché ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try try again’ really does ring true sometimes. Case in point: top Finnish exports Cats on Fire. The band humbly sent us a demo several years ago which we promptly ignored. A little while later, one of the fantastic Matinée popstars came to Santa Barbara for a visit (was it Mark Monnone of The Lucksmiths? Gregory Webster of Sportique?) and as we like to do when such an event happens, we pulled out the box of recent demos for a little jukebox jury. We had an elaborate ratings system which didn’t really matter at first because the first few bands all received something pretty close to zero points. Eventually I pulled out the demo from Cats on Fire and within a few minutes the bar had been set for that particular evening’s jukebox jury. They were glorious! I scrambled to figure out just how long I had neglected to contact these geniuses and promptly sent off an email to offer my apologies. As luck would have it, the band had just agreed to release the songs from the demo with the newly established Swedish label Fraction Discs. Knowing Jorgen from Fraction Discs for awhile at that point (he interviewed me for one of the issues of his magnificent ‘Try Happiness’ fanzine a few years earlier), I told the band they were in good hands and we agreed to stay in touch. The ‘Draw In The Reins’ EP was released a few months later without a Matinée logo. 
Finally, Scottish legends-in-the-making Bubblegum Lemonade return to the top of the hit parade! Here are the top sellers for the month of March:
In honor of their headline appearance this week at the London Popfest, our inaugural feature includes the wonderful track ‘Talking Backwards’ from Tender Trap. The song appears on both the ‘Language Lessons’ EP (
Our second featured download is in celebration of a freak snowstorm that has just hit the southeastern United States including my old stomping grounds in North and South Carolina. Typically by this time of year the hot weather has already started so we’re playing the ace track ‘Summer Snow’ from one of our all time favorite Matinée bands, The Windmills. This one comes from the 2003 album ‘Now Is Then’ (
Finally, after four months atop the Matinée hit parade, the Lucksmiths take a dive allowing the magnificent new album ‘Eventyr’ from Would-Be-Goods a well deserved #1 for the month of February. Hurrah! It really is a great album. The chart also sees a resurgence of all things Hermit Crabs. Here is the top ten: