Catlow – November/December 2005
Who: Catlow
What: kiss the world hello
Where: Vancouver
To Contact: Boompa, 408-207 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC, V6B 1H7, www.boompa.ca.
Natasha Thirsk returns with a buck-the-trends solo project under the moniker Catlow, released on Vancouver’s Boompa Records. The singer, guitarist and keyboard player previously released two albums on noted Hamilton, ON label Sonic Unyon with her indie rock band, The Dirtmitts – the 2001 eponymously-titled effort, which landed in the top 50 Canadian college music chart for that year, and 2002′s Get On. No word on whether she has left The Dirtmitts in the dirt (the bio says “while the efforts of her rock combo kept Natasha busy, she remarkably found time to develop her own solo project”), but the past three years have been spent on Catlow. The debut album, Kiss The World, was recorded at various studios. Six songs were produced by Al Sgro and Wil Golden at Answer Studios in Los Angeles; three by Thirsk and Brian Carson at BC Studios in Vancouver, and one a piece by Ian Browne and Scott Ternan. From the gentle haunt “Forest Of Love + Sin” to the beat-based title-track, which could get as much attention as anything from Feist, this is a cool record for anyone sick of the slick, slutty or saccharin.