Catfish & the Bottlemen are one of those bands that you don’t hear anything about, until you hear everything about them because they are all over your radio: cue 2015. Huge singles in the form of ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Cocoon’, taken from their debut
album The Balcony, which sold Gold in the UK, a hugely successful supporting spot with the Kooks on their January Australian tour, a coveted Splendour in the Grass spot, and now this:
A new single, ‘Hourglass’, starring your favourite Jedi. Yes, Obi-Wan Kenobi a.k.a. Ewan McGregor features in the noirish six minute video clip. Indeed, the pained contortions of his face strumming an acoustic guitar channels late career Daniel Johns, brimming with emotion and feeling. The clip is subtle and the ending is wonderful for all its off-kilter pointlessness. McGregor has become the unofficial sponsor of Catfish & the Bottlemen, and both benefit from this unexpected fruition of love.
‘Hourglass’ in many ways mines the sound that DMAs in particular have cultivated over their career, and it is a successful formula indeed: lonely acoustic strumming, pained snatches of lyric, and swelling, roiling guitar and rhythm. Expect this one to be on high rotation on Triple J.
Catfish & the Bottlemen have a reputation for electrifying live shows, and their British sense of humour and charisma is well attuned to Australian ears. File these boys alongside the Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club, other stadium-sounding Brits with an eye on conquering Australia.
If you can’t make it to Splendour in the Grass, Catfish & the Bottlemen are performing two sideshows if you’re lucky enough to snag a ticket.
WED 22 JULY
Corner Hotel
Melbourne
THU 23 JULY
Oxford Art Factory
Sydney
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