The thing that works with pop rock is the mix of catchy pop and heavy rock sounds. This EP by Cattle Drum brings that together, but in an unexpected way. Usually in pop/rock albums, the music is rock and the vocals provide the sing along pop but not with this EP. The music almost reaches the point of pop, the vocals definitely rock. It is possible to even go as far as saying the only thing that makes it pop is the guitar riffs that make you want to play along.
The entire The Boy Kisser Sessions +3 EP is full of cryptic lyrics and is wildly unpredictable making it really fun to listen to.
The first surprise is delivered with the first song. "New Furniture and Wigs" is a great opening to the album with an awesome riff that makes your reach for your guitar to try and play. The surprise is really the vocals. After hearing the riff you are expecting something a little Fall Out Boy in flavour, but you don't. You get hit with impact making, tuneful shouting. The same sort of taste follows with "Who Punched Pat Moore's Face"- really great riff.
Just when you are thinking, “Okay... I think I can get what they are doing here...” they pop in "Sluts and Coconuts" which brings the two fast paced impact hitting songs to a slower more relaxed point. With a smoother, higher pitched riff and lyrics you can almost follow. "Bovrg the Nag" keeps you on the same wave as "Sluts and Coconuts", which is something you can appreciate in the roller coaster that is this EP.
"Two Pigeons" has a sweet little opening, with acoustic guitar and soft drums, transitions into the faster paced, and backs off again later in the song.
"Just the Right Height" has an electronic start opening up to the tuneful shout that, at this point in the EP, you are beginning to really like. The lyrics still baffle you with things like-
“Doc scaled the walls of the typhoon front line, but I don’t mind the drive underground. Put em’ up high. A left handed pitcher who only throws curves, throws a fit”
"All the Electric Secrets of Hell" begins with my favourite riff of the album because it is soft and engaging. The obscure lyrics have also grown on you and you can almost find yourself wanting to sing along to the chorus of-
“Uh oh I’ve been waiting up all night, for something sweet, to crawl in my mouth.
You’re cutting out 'land ho' I’m wasting away out of bounds, scraping off my nails, and chewing off my tongue, but I’m at it again wearing in the wrong shoes.”
"I Know Who Killed Me" tops off the unpredictability of The Boy Kisser Sessions +3 by opening with lyrics, which none of the other songs have done. This is my favourite song because it provides me with a mental picture in my head of some crazy imaginary world thanks to the opening lines-
“I want to be more than a dramatic silhouette spilling gasoline on my paper shoes, to waste away playing kicking the can in an uphill landscape full of loose connections, a landscape prone to open flame.”
It can be also noticed, that in this song the shouting has almost dissolved into talking and the final half with just the tapping throws me out of my imaginary land into a jungle waiting for a cannibalistic tribe to eat me.
It is as if the Cattle Drums just went insane during this EP, and that is why I like it. You have no idea what is going on, where it is heading and you can't even sing along because you are never quite sure if you are going left or right. It appeals to me, and hopefully to others, because it is unlike most other productions. If anyone works out the meaning of it all, let me know.
-Koala
