Review: ‘Keepers’ Is Cataldo’s Most Explorative, Inspiring Record Yet

Set for release April 28th is Keepers, the latest record from Seattle-based indie rock singer-songwriter Eric Anderson, better known as Cataldo. Under the nom de plume Cataldo, Anderson takes his listeners on a 10-track tour of winding thoughts, sounds, and styles. Amid traces of its Washington heritage in its writing, the album employs steady prose to treat its listener to the unique musicality of vocabulary, supported by lively and robust instrumentation.

Right from the get-go, the album’s opening track “Room Without a Flame” sets the mood with a pensive yet motivated reflection of a familiar love becoming distant. Cataldo’s vocals carry and twist beyond the intro track with melodies smoother than you would expect for writing this thoughtful. A saxophone solo in “Photograph” is the first of many pleasant surprises, as the album goes on to explore indie rock, synthpop, and folk influences with a meticulous attention to detail.

Recorded in various studios across the Pacific Northwest, Keepers explores sounds and emotions both mundane and dramatic, trying to find balance in all of the contrasting ideas he explores. Throughout the songwriting process, Anderson described how trips to Los Angeles and dabbling in Hollywood-style production environment helped him identify more with the free-spirited, experimental nature of the Puget Sound’s independent music community.

“Hand in hand with the realization that I didn’t like the LA songwriter hustle came the acknowledgment that I probably wasn’t going to make my way in the world with music alone. A chance to make a record suddenly seemed precious and finite,” Anderson described. This push-and-pull, all-sides-considered mentality threads the album start to finish.

Wispy, airy ruminations in “Person You’d Be Proud Of” give you some time to zone out and ponder along with Cataldo, but not for long; by “A Short Goodbye To No One In Particular,” the intensity of the sincerity and strings will have your undivided attention. That’s how you know it’s a keeper.

(Set for release on April 28th, Keepers is available for pre-order digitally or on CD/vinyl through Cataldo’s Bandcamp page. Cataldo will be playing an already sold-out release show for Keepers this Friday, April 28th at Seattle’s Century Ballroom. Watch the official music video for the single “Photograph” below.)

 

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!