Alpha Cat’s Thatched Roof Glass House

All art is an emotional and visceral reaction to life in our surroundings. That is why the more emotion that shines through an artist tends to be the hook that grabs the listener’s heart. Alpha Cat has more than enough emotion combined with artistic experience to make this new CD release a very compelling listen indeed.

Alpha Cat is the brainchild of Elizabeth McCullough who began in the business as a photographer. Her proximity to the Lower Eastside Ground Zero for punk music led to her getting to know such NYC punk luminaries such a Fred Smith from Television and Chris Butler from the Waitresses. A full-length album was conceived and written with the help of some of the NJ contingent from the Bongos. It charted well on radio, (as is the new single from this new Alpha Cat release, Mona Lisa in a Comic Book, by the way). There was a lot of momentum in the Cat world when all of a sudden things changed with 9/11. The public was just not as welcoming to bold music in those dark days and the Alpha Cat momentum ground to a halt.

This coincided with the very serious struggle that came into Elizabeth’s world with depression. It took several years for her to re-orient herself artistically and now she is coming back strong with the first new Alpha Cat recordings to be released in some time. The title alone, Thatched Roof Glass House (Aquamarine Records), speaks to the many contradiction this delicate and gentle construct represents artistically. You can feel that again and again in these lyrics: “I've fallen into a black hole/looked like your heartfelt like my soul/now I got nowhere to go/from this side out looks like the end of the world.”

Perception is the stock and trades of those people in the world that involve themselves in the aesthetics. Blackhole may be the one song that evokes the famous quote from Spinal Tap as they gather around the King’s Grave in Graceland. “A little too much f***ing perspective”. Alpha Cat’s juxtaposing those lyrics against the jangle guitars and insistent drumming where the drummer beats out an intriguing tattoo on the cymbals creates the tension. The song musically and lyrically melds together as an expression of the darker nature of life when dealing with depression. All the time there is also a great pop sensibility that shines through as well. It is an intriguing record from an artist that has been silent for too long.