Heiko Schneider (aka theCatherines) have always been intensely popular with labels such as Fadeawayradiate Records / Paisley Shirt Records and their various compilations, primarily due to his propensity towards brilliance when reinterpreting the sounds  tracks and genres of yesteryear.

As such, this ‘odds and sods’ compilation was never likely to be the hit-and-miss affair that similar releases from often great artists can sometimes be. In contrast, theCatherines treat us to an album that could go toe-to-toe with some of his brilliant previous releases and come out of the fight relatively unscathed and certainly ‘holding its’ own’.

Laden with jangly indie-pop magnificence that simultaneously appreciates and represents all the quirks that such an aesthetic has offered over the last few decades, the highlights of cover songs, b-sides, and rarities take us to jangly indie-pop outposts such as the tinny idiosyncracities of the Television Personalities effused Picture of Dorian Gray, the playful incessant-pop sounds of the C86-ascribed aesthetic of Emma’s House (The Field Mice cover), and the previously unreleased Tonight It’s All Laughs and Cheers, whereas I Was Struggling With Your Magic Biscuit Tin moves towards the doleful majesty of the Shopfires jangly melancholy.

However, it is not all 80s-inflected indie-pop treasure in textures, as the release drifts through the various nuances that Schneider has always offered since this project started in 2017. As such, the jangle-twang of Your Light Shines Everywhere and Sense offer an edgy ying to the soft, reclining Yacht Rock-inflected yang of Cool Night and How Could This Get Any More Complicated?

Although I sometimes feel that this artist does not quite get the love he deserves, this album just proves what those in the know, already know!

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