Catfish Haven "Tell Me"
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Catfish Haven play wonderfully minimal, growling and condensed swamp boogie music, the kind of thing that would feel anachronistic if it weren’t so true and timeless and natural. It’s the sort of music that’s played at juke joints and dives across the country by both hardluck lifers and weekend hobbyists, no doubt serving as liquor-fueled escapism for the countless heavy-hearted poor bastard patrons as much as a social tonic for those that wait to dance until after the second pitcher. And the greatest thing is that the same thing happens more or less here at Second Story, where all the indie rock bands come and play when they’re in Bloomington. Catfish Haven, by virtue of slipping onto a label with the likes of Frida Hyvönen and Antony Hegarty, have the occasion to introduce their tendency towards audience effect instead of performative affect to leagues of people who probably never knew of the former. It’s dance music, of the same core rhythmic rationale as what’s played at the frat bars and the gay bars, only it’s humbly passionate and just desperate for forgiveness. A song like “Tell Me” (mp3) is a floor-shaking genre vamp, playing up the sweat, stomp and swing of a perfectly hot Southern summer afternoon. And also the church. You can’t escape the desire to replace George Hunter’s “Can I be a good man?” with the unconsciously similar “Can I get a witness?,” nor should you really, because both sentiments are coming from the exact same place. It’s undeniable and really satisfying, not unlike the similarly-Gospelled ‘Sno Angel Like You from Howe Gelb and friends earlier this year. Let’s do it this way: if Angel was the sound of a choir with a broken-down bus and a dusty troubadour looking for a place to crash meeting and recording in a dilapidated old wooden church, Tell Me is the local kids from the church band playing off their hangovers at the bar a couple miles down the road (in my story, it’s called Catfish Haven).
Tell Me comes out September 12 on Secretly Canadian.
Funny, as with “Please Come Back,” I like the non-album version better. This one was on a Bloodshot comp in an earlier, slightly more rocking incarnation. I’ll send it to you if you’d like.