"Black Cat" by The Muthas
Review
Out, right now, is "Black Cat", The Muthas' second single (following their debut "Circles (Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know)" which we featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Eleven' and will likewise feature on their ten track debut album which will be out later this year.
Unsurprisingly given what I've just told you, the talent we need to credit remains Joseph Jack Rudman on guitar & vocals, Ben Davies on bass guitar and drummer/percussionist Zeke Martin with production courtesy of Jon Webb at The Moonbase and mastering by Mason Le Long.
Although it's been ten months since that first single, that they prefer to take their time & hone their music is preferable to any other approach.
By releasing this song on Friday 13th, The Muthas make a neat mavrogatphobia/araskavedekatriaphobia link though in fact the song really isn't about a fear or superstition: this black cat sounds positively welcomed by the narrator. While there are plenty of songs like Willie Dixon/Howlin' Wolf's "Ain't Superstitious" where a black cat represents ill fortune, there are many more where the symbolism is about sexuality, allure, mystery & independence. This is one of those.
I suppose I had some sort of blues influenced song in my expectations & I was certainly not entirely wrong when I heard it, but it's not raw Chicago blues. Instead the template might be the late 60's "British Blues Boom" which was pretty much the same time that the term "rock" came into usage. It's very much in that classic blues-rock frame of mind, drawing on the era when first generation blues was still being channelled & before technology entered the equation offering myriad choices of distortion, volume and general excess.
Instead The Muthas centre their sound on their personal prowess & technique. Dynamics derive from use of space & drawing the most out of what they play rather than deploying the above weapons. The overall effect therefore is rather majestic: a dignified and stately track which provides the emotional aspects of the words via shifts in vocals & tones played on the instruments & not via histrionics (which is a dangerous route in the hands of the adept & the go to approach of those who don't possess the ability to tell the truth through the less-is-more method).
As noted in the previous review, The Groove is what they work towards and if you can generate it by this taut method, it has the greater effect. It also helps if you have three musicians with this level of craft & taste.
If the album is made up of more tracks like this, it will be a classy debut indeed.
You can catch The Muthas next in live form at The Tin for Covtember on the 21st (that's the Saturday).
