The Cat Empire Return With New Full Length "So Many Nights" Set For Release On April 22, 2008 Via The Velour Music Group
Melbourne, Australia's THE CAT EMPIRE are set to release their third album,
So Many Nights.
"So Many Nights refers to the songs," says bandleader Felix Riebl. "They¹re
little vignettes from our travels, stories that got etched out in the back
of a tour bus over the years. You get to a point, living like that, where it
really gets hard to distinguish between what's happening and what's a
dream."
"We were keen to step beyond our regular party thing," says The Cat Empire¹s
other singer, trumpet player Harry Angus. "We were all ready to make
something crafted, more musically solid. We wanted to try stuff that
developed, maybe let the melody do the work, rather than trying to pack it
with explosions."
Fireworks are standard accessories with this band - Ollie McGill (keys),
'Jumps' Khadiwala (decks), Ryan Monro (bass) and Will Hull-Brown (drums) -
but the new, smoldering shades of subtlety are likely to be a revelation to
anyone who's caught one of The Cat Empire's 600 shows between Melbourne and
Montreal over the past six years.
The Cat Empire's self-titled debut album was a huge success in their native
Australia in 2003, where it scored double platinum sales and 7 ARIA
nominations (that¹s Australian for Grammy).
In 2005, they recorded the follow up Two Shoes in the legendary Studio 101
in Havana, Cuba. Released by the Velour Music Group here in the US, Two
Shoes was greeted with critical accolades, late night TV appearances and
standing room only audiences. The Philadelphia Daily News summed up Two
Shoes with: "The Cat Empire brassy, sassy, prowlers who connect bar-band
soul, island riddims, hip-hop turntablilism, rude-boy punk and even
gypsy-wedding flavor and music hall."
From David Letterman to Jay Leno, the Glastonbury Festival to New York's
Central Park Summerstage, Japan to Barcelona, WOMADelaide to the Montreal
Jazz Festival and rave reviews at all stops, it often seemed The Cat Empire
were sole nominees for 'Superlative of the Year' (Indefinable Genre
Division) 2006/2007.
So Many Nights was produced at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne by the
legendary John Porter (Roxy Music, The Smiths, Los Lonely Boys, Ryan Adams),
and mixed by John in Malibu, as the Empire continued their relentless world
tour night by night, to an average of 2,500 people per gig.
The poignant first single on So Many Nights, "No Longer There" shows the
band breaking new ground. "It's the first time I've written a song about an
issue, if you like," says Felix. "I live this dreamlike, magic life, where
you don¹t have many responsibilities, but I also know that people need to
change the way they're living and realize a few basic responsibilities. It's
been interesting for me to find that line."
1. So Many Nights
2. Panama
3. Fishes
4. Sunny Moon
5. Till the Ocean Takes Us All
6. No Mountain
7. So Long
8. No Longer There
9. Lonely Moon
10. Radio Song
11. The Darkness
12. Voodoo Cowboy
13. Strong Coffee
14. Won't Be Afraid
15. Wanted To Write A Love Song (Bonus Track) |
