A timeless joy, and just in turn to turn 2013 sideways, Cat Cosmai's debut album …the line, co-written by the criminally neglected Frank Schiazza, is the modern soul album you've been waiting. With a voice reminiscent of Amy Winehouse and tough attitude redolent of her borough Staten Island (same as Suzanne Real, is something going on there), …the line is a sweet surprise.
Cat Cosmai is a sexy, tough singer, she has an ache on the lower register that is money in the bank on "Birds Fly" which suggests a pain even when she is pretty damn cheerful. It is an essential r&b flavor with a spike of melancholia which pushes you deep inside the songs. From the cheeky chappy sensuality of "Cross That Line" to the personal best modified reggae beat "Waiting For Me', an inspired rewrite of Billy Joel's "Keeping The Faith", the album is like a jukebox and every song makes you want to singalong.
The question is whether to singalong and dance all over your blues or singalong and sing all over your blues, and …the line is such a songs oriented album, you can do either. Honestly, either way the songs get you and Cat, who has a vocal range that has her namechecking Mariah Carey and if I don't hear it entirely, try playing Carey's greatest hits and see what she means.
Carey went hip hop of course, but Cat is old school, the funky "You Don't Have To Worry About Me" is too keyboard based (you can hear it tinkling on the breaks) to be 2012 based and the solo is a synth cheese that looks back to the 80s, but it is aware of modern of the modern: she seems to be looking forward and backwards at the same time. And Cat's attack on this song is a thing of beauty. It is a highlight on a lean album.
The band is least modern in its complete lack of samples or pc hi-jinx, there is a sense of real people not programmers making real, deeply felt music. It is handcrafted and all the better for it. I know Cat's partner Schiazza from Facebook and have reviewed some of his other work, and that deep in the bones crafstmanship, the pride in producing music that lives, gives the entire album a sense of identity that has you rooting for it.
However, rooting will only get you so far. The album can be a too breathless rush of songs, with the exception of the Carole King-y "Cross The Line" a full blown ballad and "Letter To Lily", as close to a mistake as she gets, you can't catch your breath. Another complaint, and this is axiomatic with r&b though Amy tweaked it hard, the lyrics are too generic. You expect such a sophisticated funk sound to break down a door or two.
Still the rush of dance and r&b is constant. It is energetic, sophisticated, and falls out of time. …the Line crosses and recrosses the 21st Century while never losing its footing, it is r&b as it should be. An impressive and lovely, exciting and smart end to the year.
Grade: A-
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