Album Review: Catfish & The Bottlemen – “The Balance”

By: Kirstin Bews –
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Welsh indie rockers, Catfish and the Bottlemen, have just released their album The Balance via Capitol Records/Universal Music Canada. The band submerged themselves in the recording process of this album, staying in Ireland’s Grouse Lodge studios with acclaimed popular Irish mixer Jacknife Lee (U2, Weezer, The Cars, One Direction, Taylor Swift) handling production.

Despite the successes of past albums, The Balcony (2014) and The Ride (2016), many critics have deemed their music as ‘middle of the road’. And while rock n roll has definitely created a safety net for the band as The Balance is curated from their familiar, formulaic, indie anthems that have cemented their spot in 21st-century indie rock, naming this album The Balance acts as a rebuttal to their middle-of-the-road reputation, Catfish and The Bottlemen are defending their sound.  

While radio-friendliness might not rock the boat,The Balance is a comfortable listen. The production quality creates a current where tracks flow smoothly. “2All” is reminiscent of their earlier hit “Kathleen” with the usual plug of guitars overlayed by melancholic vocals characterized by a regional accent that turns angsty with a drumbeat. The outlier, even if it only teeters on the edge of difference, is “Intermission”. Opening with a wandering bassline, vocalist Vince McCann’s voice comes in with a sleepy whisper that lasts for just over a minute. A break in the indie-angst, this song namely gives the listener a rest stop in an otherwise energetic tracklist.

Lead single, ‘Longshot’ offers a slice of reflection for the band, with McCann singing: “But we’re wise enough to know, how it goes to get me honey, ‘cause we know this feeling all a little too well”. Having started out 13 years ago, the band reached platinum status with The Balcony in 2014 and have basked in that success ever since. Sometimes taking a chance, even with a longshot, does work out.

Hot off the tail from the first track, “Fluctuate” has McCann describing it as one of the heaviest that the band has ever created, which is a hard statement to argue with given the line: “So pull the love over my eyes ’cause I fluctuate about you”. The beat certainly fluctuates, the chorus sweeps up with multiple voices overlays in harmony. A noisy build up to a sudden silence marking the end of the track – a signature sound of Catfish and the Bottlemen.

Overall The Balance flows from their past work seamlessly. As the albums seem stitched together in sound, Catfish and the Bottlemen have relied on the previous successes to create this album. Although this isn’t ground-breaking, this shows that the band knows their sound and fans well enough to give them what they want.