Album Review: Kitty Kat Fan Club – Dreamy Little You

Sometimes you want a volcanic curry. Sometimes you want a lemon sorbet, that lightest of palate-cleansers. Kitty Kat Fan Club are definitely a sorbet, designed to refresh and delight. Dreamy Little You is spun from gossamer melodies and the frothiest of pop ideas that fizz and sparkle like the bubbles in your favoured proprietary carbonated beverage. This is music that could be from any time and touches on so many familiar waypoints that even from the first listen, you are never in uncomfortable territory. The lightest of guitar-based pop music augmented by space-synth, organ and occasional sax, and all overlaid with a gorgeous girl-pop vocal, this album is a perfect summer soundtrack.

You could draw comparisons with other bands (there’s a touch of the B-52s and Voice of the Beehive) but in methodology – deceptively simple melodic pop with a very grounded and plain-spoken lyric – in parts, this album reminds me of Pete Shelley‘s lighter work. Even the song titles have a Shelleyian feel (I’m Loving You More Than I Should and I Could Be The One). And then at times, it’s almost pure J-pop (You Got Me Modernized).

Hailing from San Jose, California, Kitty Kat Fan Club describe themselves as a ‘indie/twee pop punk collective’ and comprise Brianda Goyos León (Just Friends), Mike Huguenor (Hard Girls, Classics of Love and Jeff Rosenstock‘s band), Mike Park (Asian Man Records, Skankin’ Pickle, Ogikubo Station etc.), Jon McMaster (Stickup Kid), Catharine Jones and others. The sum of these parts is a big, shining ball of melodic pop fun. You can’t hear this record and not be cheered up. The songs are ace and they’ll float dreamily around your head all day. Buy this and you’ll be doing a good turn too: 5% of sales of this record will go to various cat and dog rescue groups including Coppers Dream and 13th Street Cat Rescue. Asian Man Records also donates 5% of all profits annually to various social justice groups including No Mas Muertes, Southern Poverty Law Center and Legal Aid Justice Center.

Dreamy Little You is released on May 31st and can be pre-ordered here