Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Being original these days is no guarantee of being seen as a sensation, the fleeting pulse of the accomplishment is in the hands of some whose attention flies like a butterfly in a field of healthy flowers and overwhelming scents. Such is the pull on the music lover’s time, consideration and concentration that the inventive might get overlooked, not because it is found to be wanting, but because people will always find a way to stick to the comfortable, the musical Christmas cardigan that we all sometimes, and without shame, wear.
Being creative though is fundamental to allowing the comfortable to be lived with, of finding a way to enjoy life in a different manner and seeing other’s perspective; of we could all be comfortable there would be no challenge, no reason to live or be; it is always necessary to understand that at times we relate to A Good Day For The Damned.
Jaya The Cat’s fifth album is one that bounces, Tigger-style but with the fondness for making the listener think beyond its natural boundary; escorting them by the hand gently, with the lure of poetic muse and light ponderings and then when they least expect it, hammering home the message with a healthy insistence of their Drunk-Reggae Punk Rock style.
It is in that insistence that the music on the album flows, beyond poetic, it is the street corner fantasy, the rapid talk, the outflow of passion, anger and reason all bound together in a furious onslaught but which has the smile of the day written all over it.
In tracks such as the fantastic A Rough Guide To The Future, Sweet Eurotrash, the intriguing Huddersfield Rain, the combined approach of Wreckage and Amsterdam, Fucking In Love and The Streets of Shoreditch what comes across is a cultural happiness wrapped up in the memory of all those things that should matter, the days out on the beach, the drinks with friends, seeing a moment played out on the street and leaving with a smile on the face at the innocence of it all; not worry, not a phantom of what the so called elite will have you believe is part of the day’s unsullied events.
A Good Day For The Damned, it is all that we ask for, all that we see in our lives, we are not getting out of here with our wallets, our fancy shoes and the insults we take from the jealous and green eyed passionless poison throwers, instead the ride is not up to them to you it is ill-fated and cannot be done, for Jaya The Cat prove once again that it can be.
Ian D. Hall