Cate Le Bon – Crab Day
- Written by Rob Crozier
The new album by Cate Le Bon is her fourth release. The welsh singer has now set up residence in LA and this new album Crab Day is a reflection in part to her new surroundings.
Le Bon rose to fame with her quirky odd vocal sound. Her first few releases and recordings were recorded in Welsh and this album is an attempt to extend her sound with attempts to provide us with a collection of west coast haunting melodies. However the quirky or even down right odd feel of her music remains in part, yet we were hoping for something a little bit more.
The album opens with the title track ‘Crab Day’. A jaunty jumpy number with Le Bon’s vocals seemingly struggling to fit the framework of the song. Yet surprisingly it somehow works and her off key subtle vocals produce one, if not the best track on the album.
‘Love is Not Love’ is a slower paced affair which allow her voice the time and space it deserves. She is clearly a very talented lyricist and this track in particular displays her talents at her very best.
However from the opening two tracks the album rather descends into a swirling odd world of offbeat singing. ‘Wonderful’ is a case in point. We all celebrate oddity in all its forms but this track seems to be to self-aware of its oddity. This self-awareness is continued in the track ‘Find Me’ and the album starts to become tiring to listen too.
‘I’m A Dirty Attic’ is at least a challenging and engaging track in the simple fact that it returns Le Bon to a more familiar environment. Her moody, sombre vocals resonate with a slow paced intrigue sound. This is followed with the equally engaging ‘I Was Born on the Wrong Day’. Yet as interesting as these tracks are we can't help feeling that she has more to offer.
The album descends back into the celebration of oddity with further tracks such as ‘Yellow Blinds, Cream Shadows’ and ‘How Do You Know?’ It’s clear that Le Bon has enormous talent. However this album has broken some of that innocents and feels over produced and too self-aware of what worked previously. The initial part of her charm was that she was quirky, now she realises that this sells and she or her record company seem to be capitalising on this. We want the old Cate back please.