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The Black Cat's Eye — Decrypting Dreams of Weird Animals and Strange Objects
(Tonzonen TON187, 2025, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-11-01

Decrypting Dreams of Weird Animals and Strange Objects Cover art

The Black Cat’s Eye is a German band with a different take on space rock than I’ve heard lately. Rather than basing their music on riffs, they take more after Manuel Göttsching, with almost motorik rhythms and a sense of drama that draws from post-rock. They also have a fondness for odd titles, as with their latest album, Decrypting Dreams of Weird Animals and Strange Objects. Right out of the gate, we get “Hell Bent for Sæther,” a ten-minute workout of pulsing eighth notes on guitar and nearly invariant drums. There’s a brief break around the five-minute mark, then it’s back into the pulse until around nine minutes in, when the drums break free for busy fills. In addition to the steady rhythm on the guitar and bass, there are some great harmonized melodies on additional guitars. I can’t say I’ve heard anything quite like it. “The Walls of Crystal Keep” brings in acoustic guitar strumming for a flavor of Pink Floyd, and then they hit you with “Unicorn,” which is five minutes of high-energy rock goodness. “Sternenfels Space Gate” is another winner, with interesting twists to its arrangement, and “Everywhere I Rest My Head the Ground Is Shifting” brings in some atmospheric keyboards. This is the band’s second album, following up The Empty Space between a Seamount and Shock-Headed Julia (2023) — I did mention that they have a thing for strange titles. (As an aside, I find that one of the fun perks of writing instrumental music is the fact that you can use a lot of imagination assigning titles to pieces, being unconstrained by lyrics.) The band was formed in 2018, and features Christian Blaser (guitars, keyboards), Wolfgang Schönecker (guitars), Steffen Ahrens (more guitars), Jens Cappel (bass, vocals, keyboards), and Stefan Schulz-Anker (drums, percussion), with Blaser being the composer. I wouldn’t say that The Black Cat’s Eye is a space rock band exactly, as their music has a variety of elements, but whatever category you put them in, Decrypting Dreams is a great album with a lot to offer.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): The Black Cat's Eye

More info
http://theblackcatseye.bandcamp.com/album/decrypting-dreams-of-weird-animals-and-strange-objects

 

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