Kitty Kat Fan Club describe themselves as an “indie/twee pop punk collective featuring Mike Park, members of Just Friends, Hard Girls, Stick up kid and more.” I’d be lying to you if I told you I know what “twee” means, but otherwise the description is reasonably accurate. Kitty Kat Fan Club seem to be another band chasing the 90’s dream-pop sound with an obvious inflection of cutesy cat inspired pop-punk. It is a sound that will appeal to a certain crowd, but in reality the results of Dreamy Little You are mixed.
The musicianship throughout Dreamy Little You is undeniably solid – the members of Kitty Kat Fan Club know what they are doing. The instrumentation and harmonies are well written. The guitar leads and synth are well placed and thought out, and the production can stand up to the best of the contemporary dream pop crowd. My problem with Dreamy Little You really comes down to content and substance.
The first and biggest problem is that all of the songs bleed into each other. The power pop ballad style songs are catchy, but I legitimately cannot tell where one song ends and another begins. Along with the similarity of the music, the lyrics are equally similar, which further confuse the tracks. Speaking of lyrics, my second issue is the superficiality of the lyrics themselves. Is the vocalist singing about cats? Are the relationships being discussed about cats? After several listens of the record front to back – I am still not sure. The vocals provide catchy melodies, but the lyrics themselves are reasonably ambiguous to a degree that I’m not sure if we are treading on gimmick territory or tired indie rock love tropes. Either way, I find it difficult to remain engaged for any length of time.
Despite my complaints, there are things to like within Dreamy Little You. The song structures are sound and there is an obvious amount of talent on display throughout the record. For fans of the genre, particularly of bands such as Turnover, Tiger’s Jaw, and Soccer Mommy you will likely enjoy Dreamy Little You quite a lot. While I love the aforementioned bands, as well as cats, I have had enough quality within the genre to feel satisfied without needing a cat themed addition to my record collection.