I can’t remember the last time that I thought about using Jonathan Richman as a comparison for a band of these troubled times but, sometimes, the time and place is just right for such a thing and, while I would not say that Bad Friends With Black Cats possess the laconic humour of the master, their EP “I Want To Move” will nonetheless find resonance with an audience blessed with both intelligence and a bad case of minimum wage melancholy.
Bad Friends With Black Cats - Paul Harrison and Marcelo Maltez – hail from Canada. That, in itself, probably isn’t of particular relevance as their songs reek of living the urban nightmare in the cheap part of any city anywhere. Don’t get me wrong. These songs aren’t a soundtrack to terminal depression. They are more about trying to feel positive even when it rains misery all day long and the days are getting to be very long indeed. This is angst ridden nihilism seasoned with bleak big city disconnection yet, when seasoned with just the right amount of quirkiness, Bad Friends With Black Cats, just like Maestro Richman, can take you to somewhere you don’t really want to go and bring you back smiling.
So, while diluting their frustrations with even more frustration seems to come easily to Bad Friends With Black Cats, their humanity shines through in their lyrics. Tomorrow will probably be just as bad as today but you will, at the very least, have some decent music to listen to when you turn up the volume on “I Want To Move.”
Best Song: “Fuck This I Quit”
Verdict: It resonates.