aaamusic | On 02, May 2011

Given its title, Catholic, and album art of a dead man wrapped in the Irish flag with a crucifix on his chest, one would have thought the tracks were going to be a lot more…angsty. Instead, Gavin Friday throws us a curveball and delivers a reel of sweet-tempoed, well intentioned songs. The first thing that you notice is the maturity in Gavin Friday’s voice and immediately you fall into a cushion of comfort as with every line he seems to suggest, “ It’s alright now. They adults are here. Lemme show you real music”. Catholic harnesses the same uplifting and sober qualities found in most of U2’s earlier career and uses it for tender and non-dramatic effect. The entire album, however, is plastered with reverb, providing a requiem quality, but at the same time sounding as if all the songs were being played in slow-motion and underwater. Underwater, because there everything sounds the same. It is difficult to look back at Catholic and pick a defining track, but maybe that is its charm; we just get fifty minutes of pure sound, an album that wants to cocoon our ears rather than risk agitating it.

Author: Angel Lambo