Peter Cat Recording Co. (2 Album Review)
Albums: Portrait of a Time: 2010-2016 // Bismillah
Released: March 30th, 2018 // June 7th, 2019
Length: 45 minutes 51 seconds // 50 minutes 55 seconds
Weekly Album Review? More like the Bi-Weekly Album review, am I right?!? Can’t believe (I can) I’m sitting here once again behind a week on the review so hopefully that terrible joke to start it off helps you to forgive me a little bit quicker and we can get on to a really fun review that I have been super excited to get to. Plus, since I missed last week, you’ll get a two album review this week and then (hopefully, fingers crossed I can stay competent) we are back on schedule next week.
This week we are traveling all the way to Delhi, India to listen to Peter Cat Recording Company (stylized as Co.). The past two years or so they have been a Top 5 band for me. My friend introduced this band to myself and another friend in a music group chat we have and since then I have been painstakingly and annoyingly trying to spread this band to as many people as I know. I think they are that good.
I was able to see them perform live in April of 2023 in a venue of about 250 people and I left that concert a mega-fan. What you hear on these albums, every sound and instrument, the singing, it all sounds exactly the same in person. I felt every note, danced, and experienced the music as if it was the first time I was hearing it. The lead singer and band founder, Suryakant Sawhney, has a mesmerizing stage presence and you can tell he gives everything he has in each song. My favorite part of that night was that there was no opener, no bells and whistles, nothing extra. The band walked on stage, played their entire set, said thank you to the crowd and then walked off the stage to thunderous applause. No encore, no agenda, just music.
PCRC (I’ll shorten it for the sake of the review) only have two albums on Spotify, the rest of their catalogue isn’t easily accessible, so it was pretty easy to pick which ones I was going to write about this week. I shall delay no further, let’s jump into it!
Portrait of a Time: 2010-2016 - Overall Thoughts
I’ve listened to this album countless times and I feel like I cracked the code to it. I see the songs as pairs. “Hail Piano” and “I’m Home” go together, “Portrait of a Time” and “Copulations” go together, so on and so on until you get to the final song, “Love Demons”, which is the outlier but stands very strong as the one solo track. That being said, my theory only holds up if you listen to the album top to bottom, which I highly recommend.
“Hail Piano” introduces you to a slow and melancholic vibe and there is no singing from the actual band. I think it’s a nice easy listen, but it doesn’t strike me intensely. However, it leads perfectly into “I’m Home” which is a Top 3 song of PCRC for me. “I’m Home” is also slow and simple, and for the first time you will hear that beautiful silky smooth voice of Suryakant. A friend I introduced PCRC to told me that Suryakant sounded like an Indian Frank Sinatra, and I think this is a song is a good example of that. It feels like a ballad driven by the vocals, and it builds to that unbelievable moment of “I’m Home” with the horns and the crash of the symbols. I’ll dive more into this song later.
The next pairing is “Portrait of a Time” and “Copulations” which bring an immediate energy to the album, as well as the feeling of relaxation on a breezy summer day. After these songs, you’ll start to get a better grasp of the ballroom-jazz-hippie-waltz type of music that they make. Bass lines that drive the song, swinging vocals and keyboard. It’s music that almost sounds like it could be from the 50s or 60s.
Songs #5 and #6 are “Bebe de Vyah” and “Flies”. “Bebe de Vyah” is similar to “Hail Piano” in that there is no singing and it’s focused more on the vibe that it creates. I have always loved the guitar chords that are strummed throughout this song. Gives me a feeling of calm and beauty. The rest of it feels sort of sporadic, as if they are tuning their instruments in a hurry. “Flies” follows nicely after though, and is similar in the feeling of all-over-the-place, which I feel comes from the drums.
The last pairing I think works because the songs contrast each other. “Clown on the 22nd Dance Floor” is this wonderfully strange, carnival, almost dystopian type of song. I think it’s a lot of fun but I definitely have to be in a upbeat and weird mood to listen to it. The story I follow in the song is about a man living a life where things do not go his way all the time. On the contrary, “Happiness” is this lyrically love-drunk song about how happy one can be when in love.
The final song of the album, “Love Demons”, is a powerhouse. As I said before, it can stand alone and doesn’t need to because it doesn’t really fit in well with the other songs. On top of that, the song has two completely different parts in it. It just sort of marches to it’s own beat. More to come on this one as well.
Overall, I think this album is appropriately named. 6 years of time, 6 years of experiences, 6 years of songs that somehow came together to create what we are listening to. I’ve always felt a sense of beauty and refreshment in this album. It’s music that feels like it’s lost in time yet modern, happy and somber, and truly unique.
In all their glory, Peter Cat Recording Co.
Founder and Lead Singer, Suryakant Sawhney.
Bismillah - Overall Thoughts
This was my introduction to PCRC. Although it is their second album, it is their first album in my head and in my heart. If I had to guess, to those of you reading this and listening to PCRC for the first time, you will like this album more than Portrait of a Time. This album feels mature, it feels pieced together and flows well, and the lyrical themes seem to me like Suryakant was much more secure in what we wanted to write about.
Everything musically feels much more confident. It sounds like a band that knew what they wanted to produce, did it, and executed. I specifically love the use of the horns throughout the record. They add such a different element and layer to each song, and sometimes are my favorite part of the track. Their use of the electronic keyboard and electronic samples overall is incredible. It never overpowers, but rather adds a psychedelic kick when used.
The general aura of this album leans more upbeat and positive. I find myself coming back to this album when I am in a good mood, feeling loved, feeling thankful, or just simply having a good day and the weather in NYC is nice.
To be honest, I didn’t think I would struggle as much as I am to write about this album. It’s extremely lazy and boring of me to say it, but I truly believe it, top to bottom this album is perfect. Perfect in the sense that I love every song, I feel a strong emotion (joy, calmness, bliss, enlightened, optimistic) with every song, and it has yet to dull. I know there will be many people that strongly disagree and that’s ok. Or people that might overplay this album and get sick of it. That’s ok, too. All I can say is that I have yet to come across those feelings and will enjoy Bismillah as much as I can for as long as I can.
My final thought is that you should start your PCRC journey with this album. If you like it, then you should move to Portrait of a Time.
Favorite Songs
I picked my 4 favorite songs from each album to dissect a little bit more.
From Portrait of a Time:
“I’m Home”
Can you picture Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin singing this song? Please tell me it’s not just me.
This song was playing in my headphones as I ran the streets of West Side NYC to get to my softball game. It oddly gave me this uplifting feeling, especially as the culmination of music swells to the “I’m Home” part. From that moment on, this song has been deeply tied to NYC for me and I play it every time I come back into the city.
“Portrait of a Time”
The bass on this song gives it that swing-music feel, and again, can’t you hear Frank or Dean singing this?
This song makes me want to get on the dance floor and do those big swing dance kicks and flash my hands around. It gives me that type of aura. The symbols, the piano and horns adding touches of pizazz throughout. Perfection.
“Happiness”
I love this song and it’s mainly driven by the lyrics. “Happiness allows us to behave in ways you’d only hear about on whispers on your radio. Happiness allows us to live our lives meaningless.” I hear that and think of being so blissfully happy almost to a point of ignorance. A point where nothing really matters, meaning and seeking deeper understandings don’t matter, because you are so happy and present in that happiness.
“Love Demons”
The melody of the singing is a big draw for me on this song. Tough to put in words, but I would say it evokes the same feeling I get with the vocal melodies of The Beatles. It’s the driver of the song and in this song it feels like the singing is a sweeping breeze over the instruments.
The lyrics themselves I’ve always interpreted as a man that loves a woman that does not love him back. “And why is it I pray, To Gods that always fail, To drag that girl back through my window and undress my faith, And smile at me while I put on my chains.” Wowzas. That’s a pretty heavy line. Knowing the one you love is coming back to dismantle you and bind you to chains of love that aren’t reciprocated is certainly worthy of being one of the demons of love.
At around the 2:30 mark in the song we leave the original style and it transitions into this psych-pop outro which lasts the remainder of the track. I love the sounds, I love the tempo. It feels like a fitting end to the theme of “Love Demons” because for me, the music sounds like it’s love from bizzaro world. What I mean is that it is so close to sounding sweet and upbeat, but the tones are a little off and a little ominous. It is an instrumental depiction of the words “Love Demons.”
From Bismillah:
“Floated By”
I legitimately feel like I’m floating on a cloud when I hear this song. It’s smooth, easy on the ears, and the trumpet adds such a lovely melody in between verses. Also listen for the bass, great rhythm.
“Oh something changed, I’ll deal with it…All I wanna be is something so good.” Quite simply, that makes me happy. Things changed? Problems? No worries, I’ll deal with them because all I’m focused on is being good. That mindset is something I strive for everyday and this song serves as a beautiful reminder.
“Memory Box”
Get your dancing shoes on!!! This song is is disco disco disco and 8 whole minutes of it. The strings are my favorite part. They add that intensity to the song that keeps you head bopping up and down. And come on, how smooth is that opening line…. “So moooove over darlin”
“I’m This”
Favorite song on this album. Suryakant’s singing on this is phenomenal. The high pitches, the big bellowing “yesssss”, it’s all so “him” and makes me come back to this song time and time again.
“And who I am, Is not measured by what I become.” This lyric when I first heard it struck me deeply. We all strive to do great things, acquire nice things, be successful. That is who we will become. But is that who we are? I don’t think so. If I became a billionaire, does that measure who I am as a son, a sibling, a boyfriend, a friend, a person? This lyric grounds me to focus on being who I want to be, which is a kind and loving person that people want to be around and share their lives with.
“Remain in Me”
This song makes me think of my family, specifically my two grandfathers. The lyrics talk about his mother and father being in his eyes, and his blood, and remaining in him. He says they will meet where souls meet. I take that as his parents being gone, but they are still a part of him and he will see them again one day. I am fortunate to have my parents and two grandmothers with me, but my two grandfathers that are no longer here, I think of them during this song, and how their eyes and their blood remain in me. And I’ll see them where souls meet. The song ends with “They will never die” and as long as I remain I believe that to be true, they will always be a part of me.
PCRC just released a new song called “People Never Change”. It is the new single on their upcoming album that will drop this August. First album in over 5 years! On top of that, they are touring the globe so if you liked these albums I would take a look to see if they are coming to play near you. I’ve already bought tickets to both shows in NYC and could not be more excited.
I truly hope that this review helps put PCRC into the ears of new fans. I love this band and I love their music. I think it’s an absolute crime that they only have 400k listeners on Spotify. My gut tells me that one day these guys will be recognized for the beauty that they bring to this world.
Double review has me all caught up now, so back to the normal schedule. Review this week will be coming out Wednesday or Thursday. See you all then! Please continue to comment, share your thoughts, share this site with friends, and subscribe to the newsletter. Follow my Spotify playlist here!
