Bluntly, Catfish Haven’s new LP, Devastator, is a silly record, filled with blue-eyed soul, half baked R&B, and mild mannered rock tunes to fill in the cracks. George Hunter’s Huey Lewis meets Joe Cocker wail is tiresome, and unfortunately, the only constant presence on the record.

After several patient spins, Devastator and the songs it bears are excused of any crime. Listeners will hold justified contempt for Catfish Haven [Official Site, Myspace], however, for failing to execute on so many levels. The closest the band comes to sounding like itself is “No Escape”, where Hunter and company scrape across a 70’s porn soundtrack in a Bob Sieger slump. Guitars throughout the album are commendable, but hindered by the immense weight of Hunter’s strained, gravelly wail.

The opener, “Are You Ready”, is a literal call and response song, with an audience edited in, a la Animal House’s Otis Day and the Knights. It’s a shameful moment on the record that immediately jumps out as a blatantly narrow reference point to an era and scene defined more by the music than the players involved. It’s then no surprise that Catfish Haven appear hellbent for Motown cred than the actual sound, and should rightly be chastised for this one embarrassingly white attempt.

Score: 2/5

“Devastator” [mp3]
“Set in Stone” [mp3]

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