Cat's Eyes at The Lantern

Posted on: 2016-11-03

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Lovers Faris Badwan and Rachel Zeffira play a set to the Lantern, riddled with domestic tension, under their feline-friendly pseudonym Cat's Eyes.


Cat's Eyes

The age-old adage has it that you should never air your dirty washing in public. This rule is often ignored, of course, much to the equal chagrin and delight of those witness to it. But when you are the sole focus of a roomful of people who have paid money to listen to you perform, one would think that you would take extra care to adhere.

 

Cat’s Eyes’ performance at the Lantern on Tuesday evening however, was fraught with a tension between its two members (partners Faris Badwan, of the Horrors, and Canadian soprano Rachel Zeffira) that consistently threatened to overshadow it.

 

The two strut onstage to the closing strains of the Twin Peaks theme - carried off by their six-piece backing band, who have preceded them - clad in matching tassled leather jackets. They begin the show proper with ‘Chameleon Queen’ from this year’s excellent Treasure House, on which the extent of Zeffira’s contribution is unapparent. During its live airing however, all becomes clear; the disembodied falsetto which coats Badwan’s lead vocal on record is provided, with expertly-exercised restraint, by her. It is gorgeous on the ear.

 

 

‘Face In The Crowd’, the stand-out track from 2011’s equally excellent eponymous debut, follows with both of their voices recovering prominence mid-song having been lost amid the heavier guitars which introduce it. Next comes the Zeffira-led ‘Drag’, which is delivered quite beautifully. At the chorus she sings, ‘The things we do when we’re together / If they ever knew they would keep us apart’, a lyric given an altogether more sinister meaning when taken with the accompanying music video, which shows the couple violently fighting. Their weapons, among other things, corkscrews and bleach.

 

Evidence of a slightly less cartoon domestic begins to emerge after the aptly-titled ‘Standoff’, when a slurred and rambling thanks from Badwan produces what appears to be a tut of derision from his partner. An elongated stare from the Horrors frontman concludes in him taking himself off to the corner of the stage as he laconically announces, “I’m not needed for this one. If you need me I’ll be over here.” Laughter.

 

The ‘one’ in question just so happens to be the set’s highlight: a fragile cover of the Beatles’ ‘Because’, composed only of keys and the delicate harmonies of Zeffira and her trio of backing singers. After this she takes to the marimba to give a dexterous rendition of ‘Everything Moves Towards The Sun’, while Faris resumes his fretwork.

 

Treasure House is a record which wears its influences on its sleeve, with tracks like this and ‘The Missing Hour’ aping the gloomy pop stylings of Beach House, while other songs click along to the rhythms of ‘60s girl groups like the Crystals. ‘Be Careful Where You Park Your Car’, is one of the latter, an Angels-esque track about the intent to slash the tires of a lover. “It’s about an ex of mine,” posits Zeffira.

 

“Sure it is,” comes Badwan’s sarcastic rebuttal. Nervous laughter, quiet.

 

The rendition is great, oozing withhand-clapping sass from Zeffira and her backing singers, who, if you squint, could be the Shangri-Las. Intelligently subverting the aesthetic of these doe-eyed girl groups with lyrical content which is caustically honest, this continues into ‘Over You’, another track from the first record and another, Zeffira explains, about the aforementioned ex-lover.

 

“Are you sure you’re over him?” asks Badwan. Uncomfortable silence.

 

A bloke up the front loudly asks if the two of them are alright, to which she replies with a shrieked, “I need help!”

 

 

Similar bickering perforates interludes between the final few songs, ‘Names On The Mountains’ and ‘I’m Gone’ and ‘I Knew It Was Over’, before they return for an encore of ‘I’m Not Stupid’. The closing track is a surreal rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’, which suits the dulcet tones of Badwan surprisingly well, despite looking utterly reluctant to stand next to his girlfriend throughout it.

 

It seems daft to have dwelt almost less on the performance of the songs than what went on in between them, but so dominating the palpable tension between them made it impossible not to. The cynic in me wants to attribute their quibbling to a fabricated and premeditated attempt to validate the themes running through their writing, or to create a media buzz around their shows. But it all felt a bit too real, too one-sided and too nasty for that.

 

Taken on its own, the music was fabulous - which is a shame because I suspect we won’t be hearing any more of it for a while. 



Article by:

Sam Mason-Jones

An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.