Catfish Haven - Please Come Back

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 16 / 3 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CD

intro

Raucous, thoroughly enjoyable blues rock on mini-album from noisy Chicago-based trio, Catfish Haven

This mini album begins, as if a live show, with a shouted proclamation; “We’re Catfish Haven, and this is what we do!”. This is a follow up to a self released EP, and demonstrates a slightly more raucous approach than that debut, while still sounding essentially homely. The band are clearly in love with folk, country, soul and rock ‘n’ roll, and they produce a typically Midwestern style of music. You can picture the band jamming in their practices, with a few bottles of beer for company. It is a pleasant image for some very enjoyable music. It is not to hard to find people to compare Catfish Haven too - Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams, the later records of Chamberlain and even Gomez -but its really irrelevant if they sound like anyone else, because they always sound honest. And unlike many blues rockers today, songwriter George Hunter really did grow up on a trailer park, and it is this childhood home which gives his band its name. These sad songs are all full of life. The music may seem rough and uncultured, but it suits the songs and the mood well. At the start of what I hope will be a long and glorious story, I’d call Catfish Haven promising, but that would be an insult to the music they already make. This isn’t music that I feel an urge to analyse, just to listen to. "It’s great", is probably all I really needed to say in this review. Roll on the full length.

Track Listing:-