Digable Cat – Letters From My Dreams / 2007 Self / 12 Tracks / http://www.digablecat.com / Reviewed 05 June 2007

It seems as if bands do not spend enough time in the studio anymore. This is not the case with Digable Cat, who have been working on this album since June of 2005. By the time 2007 came around, this album is finished. While the music at the beginning of “My TV” seems a little Spartan in regards to arrangement, the band is able to create something that is catchy through its repetition but does not fall victim to the band not changing things up enough. The band plays a brand of rock that does not immediately correspond to any specific style or sound; Digable Cat is a band that is unique during a time when everyone sounds the same. However much the band is able to interest listeners during “My TV”, the layers of “Stop Me” go that much farther in introducing the act as impressive. There are hints of Stevie Nicks during the vocals of this track, even as the instrumentation again shakes off any possible categorization. The band during this track is shambling and shaking in a new way. Individuals are always unsure of what the band is going to do during this album, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Where the two prior tracks of “Letters From My Dreams” seemed to focus more on the instrumentation rather than the vocals, the third track “The Inquisitor Wore High Heels” changes that up.

In this track, the vocals provide the first step forward in the creation of harmonies, and this switch-up is yet another tool that the band uses to ensure that individuals stay interested in the music present on “Letters From My Dreams”. During the next track (“Rapture”), another distinct sound is created by Digable Cat. For “Rapture”, there is a more bluesy feel to the instrumentation and an Alyannah Myles (“Black Velvet”) type of sound for the vocals. Throughout all of these different styles, individuals will know that Digable Cat is playing; this is due to the same ability creating interesting tracks in each of these styles. The band would not need to change much of anything for future albums, as the fact simply is that there are different enough styles present on this disc that the band never fears becoming repetitious.

In much of the same way, the band could recast future albums in this style without becoming stale. Make sure to grab a copy of this album and see Digable Cat live; the band has to be as entertaining as they are on this album at the very least.

Top Tracks: Superspectralmicrowhirlium, Soldier

Rating: 7.1/10

[JMcQ]