There is space in the musical world for an album of soaring harmonies and unashamed Pomp Rock and the title is now held by Cats In Space. ‘Kickstart The Sun’ is a joy from start to finish.
Every track has an anthemic quality, screaming guitars and pounding drums and those wonderful spandex suited harmonies. There is an almost cinematic quality to the huge soundscape to go with some of the most expressive titles I’ve seen in ages – ‘Poke The Witch’ is followed by ‘Teenage Millionaires’, ‘Goodbye To The American Dream’, ‘Fifty-One Pillow Bed’ and on and on.
Great melodies and stunning playing help and the production is quite superb, especially the injection of little moments of brass and pedal steel (BJ Cole) to highlight what is already a vaunting number.
The current lineup is: Damien Edwards on vocals, Steevi Bacon on drums, Dean Howard on guitar, Jeff Brown on bass, Andy Stewart on keyboards, Greg Hart on guitars, and they are filled out by BJ Cole on steel guitar, Ian Cooper on strings, Jack Birchwood leads the horn section and Emily Lynne & Lara Smiles join from the Australian Pink Floyd Show.
The 15 tracks have some seriously memorable riffs, powerful drums and throbbing bass – all reminiscent of the best of the 80’s American rockers.
For my money, the best pomp rock album of the year and a glorious listen from start to finish.
