Peter Cat Recording Co. - Created Somewhere, Somehow / Bootleg Download

 

Damaged By The Sea, The Sun Plays Over Me

There was only a very brief span of time in my life where I thought of the place I was living in as a real "Home". 

It is a very eerie feeling that one. You live most of your life going from place to place and living with different people, having different experiences and emotions running through you and next to you, but most of the time you are actually conscious of being IN that place the feeling of belonging, of actually being comfortable and warm, of feeling welcomed not only by the people who are there with you, but by the atmosphere that is created when you are just alone in your room... all of that is absent. With time you learn how to cope with that weird sensation, with those odd emotions, but you never really get completely over them. That is why in those instances music is just ideal to feel something keeping you company.

But even among that, there is a very special type of music that is hard to come by. It is music that somehow manages to evoke that missing feeling that somehow, even if it is for a very brief amount of time, manages to fill that gap. Peter Cat Recording Co., a project mostly associated with the frontman Suryakant Sawhney more than any other member, are a band from New Delhi that have been around for more than a decade at this point, but have just only started to properly gather attention due to them being signed up to the Panaque label in 2018. Their first full length album with them, Bismillah, was well received by the public in general, but it was full of songs that had been part of the band's catalog for years. And if there is a thing that is so special about the band's music is the fact that despite its nature, it all somehow manages to perfectly fall in that type of hard-to-find special kind of work mentioned beforehand. 

The wonderful thing about music, or just media in general really, is that all of it is created somewhere, somehow. Sounds evident, sounds dull to say or read, but it is true, and that is such a wonderful thing. Unless one is very interested, there really is no real need to actually dive into the why, what, who, when or where of a project, specially when it is something that is able to convey all the essential things about it by itself. In the case of this band that is something that is incredibly relevant. Yeah, knowing about their influence on the new wave of original Indian artists and bands that came to be due to a need to fill the market with art that came from within the country rather than having to depend on projects made abroad, and that has been slowly rising and leaking to the rest of the world due to its creativity and variety, helps to understand their relevance, but the simple fact that they got signed into a European label gives it away subtly. Knowing about Suryakant's burning interests in expressing himself through his craft regardless of the type of medium that he chooses to do so at any giving moment and looking to do so in the most genuine way possible certainly helps to understand a lot of the mentality behind the band and their catalog, all of this complemented by going even further and looking into all of the influences that the members bring to the table, from gypsy jazz and oldschool cabaret music, noise pop and indie rock, blending it all together on a catalog that is widely varied, but that somehow manages to be full of a unique and recognizable sound and a vibrant personality. But, as they say, the music already speaks for itself, and its voice is louder and more eloquent than any other things attempting to describe it. 

It is music that doesn't really look forward to fit in between a specific time or place, let alone a particular genre, movement or aesthetic. It is music that in its barebones manages to do something truly special: getting a wide reach due to its raw and deeply personal emotions, its humanity, having it all executed on a well-crafted, passionate and genuine way.    

Whenever I listen to these recordings, and to that first version of Memory Box in particular, it is not just a matter of having a better appreciation at the evolution and variety of their songwriting, their very tight performances, or the fascinating aspect of its deceiving straightforwardness; it is mainly that, despite all of those other virtues, it is music that makes me feel welcomed into a very pleasant and memorable atmosphere, finally at a home where I can feel at ease. It evokes a feeling of belonging to that time and place, of sitting calmly as if one was hypnotized by the band performing in front of them, mesmerized by the beautiful music that is being showcased to them. It is not perfect, and it certainly is far from being among my absolute favorites, but it is something that has perfectly cemented itself as a very special thing to me. Memorable to the point where I have constantly found myself going back to it again and again throughout these last few years, and I doubt that will really change anytime soon.

I don't really know how long it will take for me to really "feel at home again", but at least I can wait. As long as I have this music keeping me company I just know the holdup isn't going to be unpleasant because I have something that is always going to be welcoming me back with open arms. And I will forever be grateful for that.

Kappa TV Music Mojo Season 3 (December 2015)

1. 1989 (3:20)
2. Clouds (3:47)
3. Clown (4:20)
4. Copulations (5:06)
5. Flies (6:16)
6. Love Demon (7:41)
7. Memory Box (6:58)
8. Namonia (5:23)
9. Nugypsy (4:51)
10. Pariquel (4:50)
11. Roses (5:19)
12. Wear Down (4:42)

Depot48 Presents Peter Cat Recording Co. (November 2017)

13. Happiness (5:10)
14. The Clown On The 22nd Floor (6:02)
15. Memory Box (8:25)

Le Mellotron, Paris, France (June 6th, 2019)

16. Floated By (4:53)
17. Remains (4:59)
18. Shit I'm Dreaming (5:36)
19. I'm Home (5:29)

Download Here! - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/14mkI3japJTzRNTLol9wdbJ_dXkSs1yyL?usp=sharing