There’s a single panel comic in the Metro newspaper by Anthony Smith called “Learn To Speak Cat,” making cat puns every weekday, such as “Supurrters” or “Vampurr.” It’s not funny. In fact, it’s worse than something even your Dad would utter, and, considering the Metro is probably one of the most widely read newspapers in Britain (mainly because it’s free), it’s an egregious waste of space. Fair enough, if it wasn’t there, there would just be another advert of some kind, but I would be happy with that instead of something which made me that little bit more depressed about humanity; not only did someone spend time conceiving these puns, but that someone also wrote and drew a picture to go with it. And then someone else decided to publish it — every weekday.
These selected individuals are obviously amongst a genre of people that are on the constant rise. These kinds of people have been around for thousands of years – way back to the Egyptians, if not further – and the rise of the internet has seen their population soar since they have the opportunity to share, talk about and post videos of the thing they cherish most. These people are cat lovers.
It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce that I’m not one of these people. I’m guessing here, but the reason I’m not overly fond of cats, and thus cannot understand the whole Canihascheezburger thing (along with everything else affiliated), probably stems from the fact that I consider the creatures to be the Devil’s minions.
Galaxy Cat then, are band I should hate in an instant purely because of their name, what with it sounding like something inspired by hours of watching Nyan Cat or looking at hundreds of memes on different cat-obsessed forums. But instead I’ve grown fond of this young Swedish couple who make music that primarily involves playing hard to get over Sega inspired synths. Yes, at times, it’s all a bit sickly, and come the half hour point your patience for them wears thin as they try to sound like Jay-Z and Beyoncé but instead come off like a nerdy She & Him with synths (but never quite hitting on that sexy nerdiness that Zooey Deschanel captures on her TV show New Girl – though, their homemade video for the single “Mystery Love” get them close).
At its best, their debut album Very.Important.Party. side-tracks all eyeing each other up and settles for something both goofy and funky sounding. “Aw Yeah” is the best example here, sounding like a Diskjokke track on LSD, with its elasticated rhythms and danceable hooks. “GalCatRap” is pretty much exactly what it says it is, where the duo – Hugo and Michelle, apparently – rap like Asian kids on Youtube, all while endorsing their music as a product itself. “Move! If you’re feeling it!” they repeat; as cynical as you can be, it’s hard not to nod your head even just a little.
But, as I said, it’s all that crooning that get too much. On the first few tracks it’s endearing and charming: with it a genuine groove “Mystery Love” has the couple singing “I know that you want my body” unabashedly, like the couple are smirking at each other while they recite their lines, while “Funky Bone” has Hugo ripping out an electric guitar solo so as to impress his girl in a move somewhat reminiscent of Canadian duo Chromeo. Soon, though, it’s appeal wears thin, mainly because they sound like their constantly playing hard to get, when you know they’re already a couple, dispersing any sexual tension. Tracks like “Close All Your Eyes” and “Give Me A Call” lose their replay value too quickly with their awkward come-ons and bland musical hooks; it can feel like watching your friends make out for hours with instrumental Starfucker tracks playing in the background.
So when Hugo and Michelle start singing at the listener instead of at each other, they hit on a niche that suits them perfectly. Closing track “GC4EV” suits this description best as they sing about how happy they are that you’re listening to their music, sweetly singing that they “want to go out with a bang – but not yet.” When the bang does come, though, it’s a modest affair (and more of a skewed cymbal crash than an actual bang) where they end up repeating the line “Galaxy Cat forever and ever,” once again turning their gaze to each other but also creating a cute image for the outsider.
It’s hard not to sound like an asshole with music like this; there’s obviously lots of effort and fun been put into this album, but at times it can feel like you’re hearing an in-joke you never get told the context to. Other times, though, it’s just really enjoyable – “Aw Yeah,” “Looks Like We Got A Situation,” “Mystery Love” – and it’s these tracks combined with those just-the-right-amount-of-cute moments that make me smile and want to dance goofily in my living room (alone, of course). It doesn’t even feel like music that needs or asks for a score; Hugo and Michelle sound like they’re making music because they’re as fond of making their own danceable jams as they are of each other.
