Spectreview: Catch Rabbit – Catch Rabbit

Released: December 18, 2021

Psych Rock

-DARK ORANGE-

At this point, I think most all new psychedelic music can be traced to its respective origin points. In Catch Rabbit’s debut self-titled release, I can hear both the whimsy of classic psych (a la Syd Barrett or Jefferson Airplane) and the pillowy haze of Kevin Barnes’ Of Montreal. But it’s not like the band decide on one approach or the other; more than anything, it’s the mercuriality with which they weave their songs that’s most intriguing.

The Seattle collective, led by C. Rosebridge, show off what they’re capable of across eight tracks of disparate energies and moods. There’s the rolling phaser and galloping beat of “Better Angels,” the minor key shudder of “Autumnesque,”  the ebulliently self-confident “The Future is Gay” (with a chorus so catchy and goofily phrased I couldn’t get it out of my head). Like the spectrum of color across the cover, there’s a broad degree of variety here that keeps everything breezy and well-paced.

Such variety could read as noncommittal – a shallow dip into several pools – but the band have both the chops to swing between styles and the undefinable element that lets each of these songs gel on their own. Perhaps that’s Rosebridge’s voice: rounded and restrained like a tube of lipstick, floating over songs like “Nobody Really Knows” and “Shut the Windows” offering counsel and confession in kind. Perhaps it’s Nick Myette’s shapeshifting guitar lines, or the heady atmosphere that Quinton Harris’ keys provided. Whatever the case, some small but significant force takes Catch Rabbit’s variegated psych rock and heightens it, providing a listen that’s highly entertaining and super repeatable.

Recommended for living in a kaleidoscope.