Cats On Fire – All Blackshirts to Me (2012)

Cats On Fire is one of the most ambitious Finnish indie bands of the last ten years or so. This band originates in Vaasa, which is one of the most Swedish speaking major cities in Finland. This band is also formed of Swedish speaking Finns. The lead singer's vocals have been compared to those of Morrissey's over and over again. I'm not sure if the comparison is that accurate, but along with melancholic guitar indie pop on the background, Cats On Fire sounds often a lot like a modern version of The Smiths. Cats On Fire also draw clear influences from 1960's Finnish music that was in turn inspired by 1950's rockabilly with clear electric guitars. You might even say that Cats On Fire sounds like a collection of rock n' roll history, because you can find so many different influences in the songs. But that would be unjust description, because Cats On Fire also has a very recognisable sound of their own.



I already heard about this band after the release of their debut album and I really liked them from the beginning. Their second album was the first one I bought and I feel like that one is still my favourite. This third album was released just after I had moved to London. I had a pleasure to see the band live here in London. They were headlining one London Pop Fest venue, Bull & Gate, in Kentish Town. We were there with an international crowd and everyone seemed to be somewhat charmed by their live show. In the beginning of the show people were a bit reserved and they applauded politely to the songs, but towards the end the band had really convinced the audience and the crowd went wild for this band. At that moment, I could feel proud of my home country.

The lead singer Mattias Björkas is not just a great singer, but he's also a great performer and his lyrics are filled with small hidden meanings. The band manages also to sound very international. Often, I can immediately tell if a band comes from Finland by the sound and the accent, but with this band, it's really difficult to tell. It's probably due to their native language of Finland's Swedish.

Finnish bands rarely have big budgets for music videos and their videos usually turn out looking quite amateur compared to English, Swedish or US bands' videos. This video is no exception. The Sea Within You has a video filmed with a handheld camera mixing different lo-def landscapes together. The song itself is great and this video is appropriate for this kind of pop song that draws subtle psychedelia influences from 1960's aesthetics.

My favourite song on the album is probably the beautifully growing song It's Clear Your Former Lover. The song sounds all the time like it's about to burst into loud hit song, but it keeps keeping the suspension up by adding interesting instrumental choices to each verse. I also want to mention the opening song Our Old Centre Back. This highly melodic piece sounds probably most like their first two albums. It's a great way to open an album giving a bow to their previous music and then move on to something slightly different. Although, Cats On Fire has by no means really changed who they essentially are. Many bands feel like they really have to change everything as soon as they hit the third album, because otherwise the audiences might grow bored of their music. But I think it's good that Cats On Fire keep serving their guaranteed sounds even on this third album.

They haven't released an album since this 2012 album and I'm not sure what they're up to at the moment. I saw them a couple of years ago on my trip to Finland and they were really good on stage, but they kept playing old songs. I certainly hope that this wouldn't be the last I hear about this band, because I really like their music.

Listen to the album on Spotify.