Paper Scissors Stone

Sumptious strings herald the opening of Catatonia’s latest aural adventure, and you’re starting to think that maybe you’re being taken in a new direction, a pop towards high art. But then Cerys Matthews’ familiar tones enter the fray and you realise that no matter what Catatonia do music-wise, they are still going to sound like Catatonia.

Cerys has that type of voice. Having such a distinctive singer is both a blessing and a curse: the band is instantly recognisable but it is hard for them to branch out and try anything new.

Single ‘Stone By Stone’ is Catatonia at their best, good melody, infectious rhythm and a chorus that screams ‘RADIO HIT’ in, em, large capital letters, even if the ‘Hi Ho’ backing vocals do owe a debt to a certain Walt Disney movie with seven vertically challenged males. ‘Godspeed’ is a wonderfully uplifting tune, where Cerys’ sultry tones are borne along on a bed of strings.

‘Immediate Circle’ is more, ahem, immediate, a three-minute rocker, whose honkytonk piano and buzzsaw guitars give way to a trademark dreamy middle-eight a les Beatles. ‘Shore Leave’ is not a cover of the Tom Waits tune, but a bittersweet love song, with Cerys crying out for some salvation, no matter what form it should take; “We all need someone, we all need something, we all need”.

‘What It Is’ has the band from the glens experimenting with a drum ‘n bass backdrop, and it doesn’t entirely work. Yep, you’ve guessed it: it sounds like Catatonia trying their hands at drum ‘n’ bass, albeit with the naffest backing vocals this side of Big Tom and the Mainliners. ‘Apple Core’ is similarly experimental, but thankfully it lasts less than 90 seconds.

When they follow this up with something like ‘Beautiful Loser’, though, you could forgive them almost anything: a perfectly poised, bittersweet tale from life’s less glamorous side.

Lyrically, Catatonia have always been cleverer than your average three-minute guitar merchants, and Paper Scissors Stone is probably more worthily wordy than their previous work, as they gently bend convention to their will.

‘Is Everybody Here On Drugs?’ is surely a future single, with more wonderful rhyming couplets in evidence than at a year-long open mic poetry festival.

So what’s the moral of this particular collection of songs and stories? I guess it’s that when Catatonia stick to what they do best (ie. quality, intelligent guitar pop), they have few peers. Judging by the lush production and the generous use of strings, it would seem that Catatonia dug rather deep into the Blancy Y Negro coffers for this big budget, widescreen affair, and it works admirably.