CATNIP

Catnip is a Melbourne based independent band who play lyric based songs within a lush cinematic sound scape. Their unique sound is created with electric guitar, lap steel, bass, drums and a relaxed vocal style.
Following the critically acclaimed Falling (2007) and Pink & Blue & Green (2003), Mirror is the first international release for the Australian band Catnip. Mirror is a selection of tracks from both releases, remixed and mastered by renowned producer Kramer (Low, Galaxie 500, Urge Overkill, Palace Brothers, Danielson Familie, Jeffrey Lewis) at Noise Miami. Engineered and co-produced by ARIA award winner Chris Thompson (The Waifs, Hilltop Hoods, Birthday Party, Nick Cave) and featuring Kramer on several tracks, Mirror is a beautifully intimate fresh voice for Catnip.
Released May 2008 through Second Shimmy with distribution in Europe and the UK through Cargo Distribution.
Catnip performed a showcase gig at NXNE in Toronto, Canada, June and subsequently toured the United Kingdom, Europe and United States to support the release of the Mirror.
PRESS
MOJO MAGAZINE - September 2008
UK debut compiled from Melbourne slo-core trio’s back catalogue.
"Given Catnip’s sonic bond with somnambulant trios Galaxie 500 and Low, who’ve both worked with New York alt-rock champ Kramer (of Bongwater and Shimmy Disc label fame), it’s no surprise he’s sprinkling fairy dust here, remixing cuts from the Australians’ two albums, 2003’s Pink & Blue & Green and 2007’s Falling, and releasing them himself from his new Miami base. Catnip suit Kramer’s tropical location; Nerida Trask’s half-asleep croon, drummer Greg Ryan’s jazzy restraint and guitarist Richmond Brain deliver hefty doses of sunburnt bliss.Richmond is the real star here, bridging desert blues and Cocteau Twins-style nu-gaze loops to lend Wish I Was a Bird and cover of Dylan’s Tomorrow is a Long Time a goose-bumpy, hallucinatory edge that sets Catnip apart from their peers."
Martin Aston
PLAN B MAGAZINE - July 2008
"Somewhere down in Australia they not only remember drowsy psych/shoegaze, they actually do something with it. Catnip, a trio from Melbourne, clearly adore albums by the likes of Mazzy Star and Mojave 3, not to mention homegrown heroes like the Paradise Motel, and ‘Mirror’, given a bit of further attractive murk and mellotron via the mix job by Kramer, shows they love wisely rather than too well on that front. Vocalist Nerida Trask, however, both sounds like her inspirations and puts down her own stamp, adding a touch of clipped bite to songs like “The Great Escape” (not a movie theme cover), but the quieter moodouts like “Sad Song” have their own spare glow to them, almost understatedly postpunk in a Young Marble Giants/Raincoats way. A cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time: closes it out but otherwise it’s all them, and it’s all pretty promising."
Ned Raggett
UNCUT MAGAZINE - July 2008
“It’s easy to understand what drew former Galaxie 500 & Low producer Kramer to Catnip, who’s international debut is remixed and is now releasing. The drowsy pace of the seductive Aquamarine or the gently disconcerting Fly With Me match the elegant restraint of his former proteges while also bringing to mind the minimalist gothic beauty of Mazzy Star…” Eden Park
www.americana-uk.com
"An affectingly spooky and haunting debut from a gifted and adventurous band.The vocal style of singer Nerida Trask calls to mind Harriet Wheeler of 90s Brit band The Sundays, with occasional hints of the Cowboy Junkies Margo Timmins and Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser. The musical backing wanders from electronica into something more organic and rootsy and back again, like a less funereal Black Heart Procession, particularly on Here We Go Again, which has some fine other worldly guitar drifting around amongst keyboard bleeps and blips. The record creates a haunting lonely sunlit atmosphere, and although Nerida’s vocals don’t go as far as the Liz Fraser non-language thing, they significantly contribute to the mood as another instrument, at least as much as they do in terms of lyrics. The drums too are not merely beat keeping but adding textures, such as on the closing of Wish I Was A Bird. Stay has a touch of David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti menace, indeed much of the record has cinematic open spaces running through it. Tomorrow Is A Long Time is early Cowboy Junkies style, but like many of the songs, it’s so well done that the influences just get overridden. A very promising debut. 8 out of 10" Patrick Wilkins



Catnip - Live @ The Northcote Social Club



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