Almost two years since their debut EP, Melbourne progressive indie band Cat or Pillar have released a full length that retains the identity they had forged yet incorporates the fruits of the extra experience they have gained. There’s traces of the likes of Muse, The Smiths and Placebo, but the songs on Signals for Motion are far more ambitious than those mainstream “indie” sounds and there’s no standing still as each track flows through a range of sounds and styles. Other influences include Radiohead, particularly in 'Blood Is Our Water', a sprinkling of trip-hop and a fair dose of post-rock guitar (the final track 'The Less You Speak, The More You Know' is entirely post-rock), but overall there’s no sense they sound too much like anyone else.
Luke Dickinson’s voice is strong with a good range and variety that allows two or three different distinctive styles, and as with the EP, it provides an irresistible focal point as the instruments plot out their elaborate and ever-changing courses. The closing track incorporates the Charlie Chaplin monologue from The Great Dictator (the second song I’ve heard this week using it) and it wisely cycles from front of the mix to the back to emphasis the key elements without displacing the instruments.
It’s not a hugely long album – seven songs in fewer than 35 minutes – but with the ground it covers that’s about right. The songs for the most part enjoy a feeling of lightness and pace, relying on synth and guitar less to build complex vertical layers and more on dancing from one log to another as they float down the river.
There are plenty of records that do too much for the sake of it and get lost in their own desire not to be pinned down, but this doesn’t come close to behaving that way. The idea of leavings such a strong vocalist so central to the sound off the last song seems like an odd decision on paper but it pays off with the least disparate acting to calm things down and bring the album to a fulfilling close.
The problem the album faces with this range of styles is finding an audience beyond the Melbourne prog scene in a world of some very narrowly defining boundaries, which is a great shame because it feels solid and gives generously not only to prog but to post-rock and indie rock and pop as well. Meanwhile, fans of the band will already know they are listening to a class act and will need no confirmation.
