With 16th April being Record Store Day, featuring the release of the first vinyl compilation to come from BrightonsFinest, 15th April is very much Cate Le Bon’s Crab Day with the release of her fourth album. But what is Crab Day you wonder? Well, in Cate’s own words “It’s a coalition of inescapable feelings and fabricated nonsense, each propping the other up. Crab Day is an old holiday. Crab Day is a new holiday. Crab Day isn’t a holiday at all”. Makes sense? No? It doesn’t get easier, as there is a film of the same name that accompanies the album which is directed by Phil Collins (a different one of course). , filmed in Berlin, features kooky dance routines, a man dribbling, a pomegranate being squashed by a foot, a near naked man, Cate running into the wilderness, and so many other nonsenses which are put to Crab Day instrumentals. So what does that say for the album?
Whereas her previous album (the fantastic Mug Museum) was more of a sombre affair, Crab Day feels more like a playful sunny day down the beach (or perhaps by the rocks if you are a crab). The title track and opener is direct and jaunty, with Cate singing, “Who am I to judge you on Crab Day” in her beautifully quaint and unique voice over her erratic guitar hooks which all slip into perfect place when the chorus comes around. Before you are scared away by Cate Le Bon’s impulsive sound that is far, far away from your typical humdrum pop, ‘Love Is Not Love’ introduces a sleepy-tempoed “ballad” which reminds you of her past works featuring a bluesy electric guitar and a saxophone. However, this is purely a juxtaposition for what is to come in the surreal ‘Wonderful’. The first single off the album takes an unpredictable trip into Cate’s wonderfully eccentric dreamland full of madcap instrumentation and bizarre imagery – “I want to be a motion picture film / Oh, yeah / I want to be a ten-pin bowl” – holding a slight feeling of passive aggressiveness which is felt throughout Crab Day.
‘Find Me’ has a sense of adventure and wonderment, like much of the album, almost as if it was made as the soundtrack to a kid’s programme – searching through a mystical forest, seeing peculiar sights and coming into contact with strange creatures. The confidently strange themes that come through in Cate’s music will always be likened to psychedelic trend setters the Velvet Underground, sharing the same nationality as John Cale and holding a voice that could be likened to Nico. However, her recent venture with White Fence frontman Tim Presley under their Drinks alias is more of a notable influence across the album, highlighted in the frenzied and unhinged feel in ‘We Might Revolve’.
Crab Day ends its surrealistic adventure with ‘What’s not Mine?’, the stand out track on the album. This has been less of an adventure that one might expect and as for all the nonsensical sentencing and experimental tunes, Crab Day has been absolutely assured of what it wants to be from its beginning. Cate’s abstract melodies and jerky rhythms continuously seems to find an emotional undertone, which pulls you into each song and has you intoxicated by her niche idiosyncratic sound. This isn’t new in Cate Le Bon’s work and I strongly recommend you check out her other releases if you like Crab Day. Even better, see her play live on her upcoming tour (Friday 27th May at Patterns, Brighton) where she will be performing her newest album in full “like a live stream” and performed with LA musical collective Banana.
Cate adds, “Banana, which comprises of Josiah Steinbrick (a producer), Josh Klinghoffer (current guitarist for Red Hot Chili Peppers), Stella Mozgawa (drummer in Warpaint), Stephen Black (Sweet Babbo), H. Hawkline and myself, will open the evening with a set of equally composed and improvised adventures through tuned repetition, polyrhythm and Eastern themes, near and far, for movement and dance followed by half-time orange segments, costume changes and a reshuffling of the cabinet for a very special performance of Crab Day.”
Iain Lauder