International Velvet by Catatonia, Review
an In-depth album review of the best Catatonia album released, Inspired by Tim burgesses listening party he did with Cerys Matthews.
February 2nd 1998, the welsh band Catatonia released their second studio album. International Velvet, it featured 12 songs with 5 of them being singles, 2023 marks the 25th anniversary for what I consider to be one of the greatest albums of the 90s. The album starts with “Mulder And Scully'' a song about a love so strange that x files detectives Mulder and Scully would investigate it. The song is arguably the best know and for good reason, Cerys Matthew’s (lead singer and prominent songwriter) voice is so unique it stands out against the majority of female singers, the track then moves into “Game On” the final single of the album, a slower pace with a softer vocal from what has just played. “I Am The Mob ''follows this completely changing into a more punk like tone with aggressive vocals released as their first single of the album in 1997. The album then moves to their third single of the album with the second being Mulder and Scully in 1998 “Road Rage” another well known one singing about the trial of Tracie Andrews it features a catchy chorus featuring Matthew’s welsh accent which doesn’t come out often but pulls the song together. The 5th song “Johnny Come Lately” is a slower song similar to game on, Cery’s doesn’t push her voice much in this meaning you get a beautiful dreamy sounding song pairing with Mark Roberts guitar really perfects it. The next song “Goldfish And Paracetamol'' brings back the more raspy vocals with a slow pace again it’s a simple song with dream sounds playing and a lovely trumpet sound at the end. The 7th track shares a name with the album itself and stands out against the rest of the songs with a mix of welsh and english lyrics “International Velvet'' it sings about the beauty of wales and praises the country with the chorus “every day when I wake up I thank the lord I’m welsh” catatonia was placed in “cool cymru” wales take on cool britannia, the use of Cery’s voice singing in the welsh lyrics is really breathtaking the language is dying out but this song really brings it to life as a beautiful sound the chorus has a harsher tone promoting the love of wales and is one of the best songs on the album.
“Why I Can’t Stand One Night Stands'' tells a short story of the feeling of regret that comes with a one night stand, in the song Cery has an exhausted sound in the song suggesting the headache that comes with a one night stand it’s one of the shorter songs on the album but a sweet one at that. The album keeps up the calm pace flowing into “Part Of The Furniture '' has a stunning guitar and bass combination combining the raspy fast pace singing with the soft town but loud guitar dominating the song itself its four minutes of angelic vocals and. The 10th track “ Don’t Need The Sunshine '' stands out on the album with an acoustic guitar starting the track, it gives the more homely feel an acoustic guitar brings a slow song with layered vocals the kind of song that's written in 30 seconds and perfected on the first playing of it. The use of an acoustic separates it from the album showing the range of the band. Track 11 is the 9th single by the band overall “Strange glue” the build and drop of the drums and guitar in the chorus make this song they perfect pair with Cery's vocals it has a dreamy feel which most songs in the final half of the album has the vocals are enchanting and could calm a storm this also extends to “My Selfish Gene” the final song of the album ending it with an incredible song the piano really fills this song with a dramatic feeling the climax of the chorus combined with the intensity of the vocals for being the shorter song on the album it’s one of the songs that stays with you longer purely for the dramatics of it. Overall the album starts off with a more intense punk feel to it and slowly starts becoming more soft and tame it’s a beautiful album which really highlights the beauty of the vocals of Cery Matthew who stands out against the majority of female artists from the 90s to modern day, the uniqueness of the album doesn't go under appreciated, it’s a timeless album and shows the talent of welsh bands and female artists. The album is linked below and I hope this review can convince you to give it a listen. I don’t like to promote Spotify as I know how little it gives artists but as the most common streaming service it’ll have to do. to clarify the Spotify album features 14 songs but the podcast which Cery’s was on only spoke about 12 therefore I have only written about 12 songs.