Release Date: Mar 25, 2014
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Record label: Domino
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Signed by Domino a couple of years ago, We Are Catchers, aka Peter Jackson (no, not that one), was given a lot of creative freedom to make the record he wanted to make. An artist could be forgiven for crumbling under the weight of that kind of expectation. However, with this debut, the Liverpudlian has kept a cool head and, with the assistance of former The Coral man Bill Ryder-Jones, produced an album that is so enjoyable and easy-going that it would be easy to assume that this was bashed out in a matter of weeks rather than months.
With the help of former Coral man Bill Ryder-Jones, Liverpool’s We Are Catchers (aka Peter Jackson) has captured the melancholy essence of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson’s solo album ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and distilled it in the murky Mersey to produce this confident debut. Appropriately opening with ‘Water’s Edge’, he takes his piano for a leisurely stroll along a sunkissed promenade as the sensitive lyrics – “From the sky/ I can see the birds fly/From the ledge/You can see the river’s edge” – flicker into focus. ‘Tap Tap Tap’ livens things up a notch, while ‘Over The Hill’ is like a massage for the ear canal.
We Are Catchers is built around the piano and vocals of Liverpool resident Peter Jackson. He writes hooky little tunes that have the bounce and feel of early Harry Nilsson and the loose warmth of a Beach Boys demo session. So far so good, right. If Jackson's first album had been just him, his piano and ten songs that sound like the magical intersection of Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter craft and Brill Building snap, things would have been just fine.
Head here to submit your own review of this album. No one has ever satisfactorily explained why Liverpool and Los Angeles should have developed such a spiritual link over the past twenty years and more, although the current of influence has arguably only run in one direction. People talk about the relative Westerliness of the two cities; if so, why aren't Bristol acts ripping off the Seattle sound? Others suggest that it's to do with the obvious proximity of the respective coasts.
Imagine yourself sat on top of Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building during a British Summer, beneath grey clouds and their inevitable downpour. Between each drop the beats of many a historical act still pouring from The Cavern Club behind you from times gone by: The stories of McCartney, the strums of The La’s, the sunshine of The Coral. But in front of you, a sea of white sand and a sky of blue sea, with waves that switch from crashes to crawls; all lapping those iconic docks, bringing with them drips of Californian sunshine in the form of Beach Boys-esque harmonies and ballads in the key of Brian Wilson.
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