In the late 1990’s/early 2000’s, back when MTV were brave enough to screen their leftfield, alternative music programme ‘Alternative Nation’, a new breed of guitar orientated progressive indie music came to the fore, on both sides of the pond. Bands started to move away from chord- based, angst-ridden indie-rock into a more melodic and sometimes subdued sound, often layering melodies and rhythms through the group and using dynamics and time-signatures to create the new ‘alternative’ sound.

Had Catscans been around at that time, one would have been forgiven for thinking they were a young, college band who enjoyed watching ‘Alternative Nation’ and had spent time together trying to emulate this new sound. As it is, we are now 10 years later and Catscans do indeed sound like a young, college band but they’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

Catscans EP is available as a ‘pay-what-you-like’ download from their website and is 3 tracks of formula and predictability. Each track begins with an arpeggio-based riff on the guitar and then other instruments are introduced with staccato rhythms and shifting dynamics. Every few bars or so, there is a change of time signature or level of dynamic as the track changes gear.

This sound has already been developed over 10 years and to hear it again in this raw form, from a new band, is tiresome. The four-piece do attempt to break up the monotony of the instrumental sections, offering occasional vocal wailing as an added layer. This never really amounts to anything more and serves only to make everything a little noisier, with some comedic results.

Listening to the EP, which thankfully was no longer than the three tracks, one does wonder if their sound just hasn’t translated properly to the recording. The band does proclaim to “fuse into a raucous live spectacle” so perhaps the crisp production of the EP has lost some of this raucousness. Nevertheless, the EP does nothing to tempt this listener to buy a ticket.