Setting the tone with an immersive guitar and synthscape with melodic nuance and textured avant-garde drums, What Strange Beasts open Cat’s Paw with metaphorical and transcendental lyricism.
The opus expands into an escapist narrative as the psychedelic, progressive rock quartet from Washington take us on a trip and tease their upcoming 26-track album Starlight’s Castaways, out February 3, 2023.
We learn that the band is made up of a group of friends who connect like family and have expansive perspectives on the world. What Strange Beasts features Jonathan Maxwell who performs drums and vocals , Benjamin Ruby on synthesizer and vocals, whilst Aaron Kremer delivers bass, synthesizers and vocals, and Alley C shares exquisite guitar skills.
Listeners might also connect with Marillion, Porcupine Tree, Temples, Ghost of the Machine, The Moody Blues, and Spock’s Beard, but it is clear that What Strange Beasts are creating a universe of their own, and Cat’s Paw is designed to “display the band’s musical alchemy at play”.
Elaborating on the track, the band confess, “Alley’s song idea was one we really workshopped quite a bit to get the right feeling to the lyrical flow, and really capture the offsets of chaos and excitement that the sound brought.”
They continue with reference to their artistry, “When we write a song, it’s personal. It’s always personal. The characters and concepts in the music are metaphors for emotions we are all experiencing to varying degrees and the stories give us a way forward with those feelings.”
We deeply appreciate the immense talent and cohesive tapestry that What Strange Beasts share with their energy and soundscape, and have added Cat’s Paw to our New Music Spotlight playlist, whilst we anticipate their album early next year!