Catfish Haven - Devastator

At their core, Catfish Haven are essentially a rock act, however with third album Devastator they diversify further; tracing a pendulum swing of musical styles which whips us from the irksome Commitments-styled chant-along nonsense of Are You Ready to the poetic loneliness of Every Day’s tumbleweed dusk. Amidst their throes of rock, folk and soul, an unlikely album highlight emerges in a moment where they settle in to the growling groove of Set In Stone. The track sits somewhere between the late 70s disco of Larry Levan and 80s obsessed, anthemic sax-led chart fodder: every sinew of your being might scream - hate it, it’s cheap - but in the end it proves to be just too damn funky. With such an unwavering, eclectic approach, it’s unlikely that Catfish harbour any real ambition to sit aside rock’s royalty, however by embracing their every whim, even their chances of underground success are in the balance. [Paul Neeson]