Peter Cat Recording Co.’s self-professed sassy lead single “People Never Change” provides an auspicious insight into the band’s upcoming album ‘BETA,’ a new collection of work intended to “make sense of the present.”
follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist
“People Never Change” – Peter Cat Recording Co.
Released May 16, 2024, “People Never Change” immediately aligns with the characteristically genre-bending style of India’s Peter Cat Recording Co.
Being completely honest, I found the nearly two-minute-long intro initially pretty grating, the track leading with Bollywood-tinged drums and a relentlessly dissonant horn that envelops the listener in PCRC’s distinctly experimental sound. However, with good headphones and tenacious replays, the single has grown on me, and when charismatic lead vocalist Suryakant Sawhney does eventually swoop in, his woozy crooning and the rich blend of accompanying instruments reminds me why this band from New Delhi is so compellingly unique.
People never change, but I will
’cause I never give a f***,
that I’ll never be enough
I have washed away, my sins
So I never gotta face,
consequences, consequences
People so afraid, they’re mindless
They don’t wanna see you learn
They just wanna see you burn
They don’t wanna see the world turn
I can walk away, spineless
pretend it’s a movie
I don’t want to face, a crisis
or something that’s so real
“People Never Change” appears to be a hauntingly hopeful promise of change, a self-mantra concealed within glossy disco that sneers at stagnation and espouses the affirmation “every day I can change, I can change, change everything.” This thoughtful criticism cheerfully concealed by the fresh sound of the track is not an unfamiliar move by PCRC. What makes this band’s sound such an attractive novelty is that often the undertones and lyrics are led by a reflective, melancholy introspection, an expressionism successfully disguised by intoxicating vocals and jubilant accompanying instruments.
Refusing to be restrained by classification, Peter Cat Recording Co. merge Indian indie rock, gypsy jazz, bossa nova and cabaret inflected by alternative electronica to produce a transcendent identity.
The band incorporates Karan Singh on drums, Dhruv Bhola on bass and samples, Kartik Sundareshan on guitars and trumpet and Rohit Gupta on keys and trumpet. This combination of traditional rock instrumentation with brass and electronic elements – all inflected by the band’s disparate musical influences – create the immersive nostalgia PCRC have become acclaimed for.
Peter Cat are releasing their forthcoming album BETA August 9, 2024 and have described their new body of work as “a collection of stories about the future, told fifty years in the past, to make sense of our home, planet earth.” If that rather ambiguous description leaves you with questions, PCRC have promised a rigorous world tour following BETA’s release.
Despite releasing albums as far back as 2011, PCRC wiped their discography clean and signed onto record label Panache in 2018, proceeding to release their groundbreaking albums Portrait of a Time that year, followed by Bismillah in 2019.
My personal favourite, Bismillah is an eccentric, moody expression of cynicism. The eclectic mixture of instruments, wrapped around euphoric, bending brass and cheeky drums, are carried by the irresistibly smooth vocals of Sawhney. The vulnerable lyrical retrospection of “I’m This” and “Floated By,” adjacent to the joyful tunes of “Freezing” and “Memory Box,” make this album incredibly complex, diverse and enjoyable.
If BETA delivers on the band’s assurance that the new album will be something “more monumental and important” than their previous works, than we’d better strap in for this upcoming release!
— —
:: stream/purchase People Never Change here ::
:: connect with Peter Cat Recording Co. here ::
“People Never Change” – Peter Cat Recording Co.
— — — —
Connect to Peter Cat Recording Co. on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© courtesy of the band
© courtesy of the band
:: Today’s Song(s) ::
follow our daily playlist on Spotify
:: Stream Peter Cat Recording Co. ::
