Originality has never been a strong suit for Cats And Cats And Cats. They first came to prominence with their 2006 EP 'Sweet Drunk Everyone', a collection of five songs that was more than a little guilty of aping the best parts of Mew and Explosions In The Sky. It did little to develop upon the age-old formula for inoffensive post rock. A subsequent split release with Oxford's This Town Needs Guns demonstrated some interesting ideas and hinted at a shift towards a more orchestrated, conventionally structured sound.
'If I'd Had An Atlas' is the logical continuation of this development but somehow loses the plot across the full length of an album. Opening track 'If I'd Had Antlers' contains all the archetypal ingredients of Cats' sound, it is brimming with chanted group vocals and stabbing Cursive-influenced combinations of brass, guitar and strings. The song is marred however by Ben George's nasal vocal delivery which can become incredibly grinding as the track continues.
As the record progresses a lot of familiar territory is covered. 'Big Blue' springs to life amidst a flurry of the sort of highly melodic guitar patterns that Cats have been creating for years before sinking into numerous syncopated, tedious math rock sections - another thing Cats have been creating for years.
There are moments of promise and originality on hand here but they are fleeting at best. An intriguingly cinematic intro consisting of nothing but down tempo brass and piano kicks off 'If I Were A Wolf' whilst 'The Bee's Knives' attempts a more acoustic sound and is successful in creating a respite from the lack of subtlety occurring elsewhere.
The main flaw of 'If I'd Had An Atlas' is the fact that whilst these are the shortest songs the band have ever written, the number of ideas crammed into each of them is overwhelming. It seems as though the more drawn out, minimal style of 'Sweet Drunk Everyone' was far more suited to their style of songwriting. Here the tracks frequently demonstrate a lack of development and often feel rushed, juxtaposing numerous different sections into short running times leaving an ugly mess, a post rock Frankenstein if you will.
It seems fitting then that the highlight of the album is 'Burst Into Flowers' which avoids the record's many structural difficulties by focusing on developing a simple but ingenious motif instrumentally and eschewing the often awkward, grating vocals.
Cats And Cats And Cats are undisputedly very talented at creating complex math rock, a feat that can be highly impressive live, on record however this gets tiresome very quickly. There's only so long they can succeed with the same formula, the few signs of progress and originality here need to be focused on and integrated more into their overall sound if they are to be anything more than a one trick pony.
A final piece of advice; leave this album in your iTunes, do not attempt to play it all the way through for risk of information overload, simply allow the odd song to come on via shuffle and you may just enjoy it.
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