Cats & Kittens:De Novo Dahl

Title: Cats & Kittens

Label: Theory 8

Genre: ambitious pop/electro-pop

Rating: 6.2 of 7

“6 songwriters, 4 vocalists, 1 sound, and a heck of a lot of instruments.” is what initially attracted me to this ambitions double-disc debut album from the Nashville 6 piece. I popped in the first disc, Cats, and heard about what I expected, infectious Of Montreal-meets-the Shins pop music. A number of singles stood out and I was more or less content with what I was hearing. THEN, I popped in Kittens, the adjacent re-mix album and things suddenly changed. 16 ridiculously catchy and upbeat songs blared through my speakers and my solemn room suddenly turned into a 80s disco rave party. The re-mixes are indistinguishable from the original tracks, and almost leads me to believe that they are completely new songs, but the press release repeatedly tells me I’m wrong. And their style changes also within the album bouncing their sound around to resemble the Postal Service, then the I Am the World Trade Center, then 80s disco, and everywhere in between. Then I think, genius, De Novo Dahl have managed shovel out 2 hours of ambitious pop on their debut… now I can’t think of any better way to put yourself on the map. With Cats & Kittens, the sextet appeal to pop fans of all kinds whether you are partial to the traditional style or the progressive electronic style.