Cate Le Bon is a bit like a remixed, post-post-post modern love child of Bjork and David Byrne. She hails from Carmarthenshire in Wales, a sleepy part of Britain with a lot of fond memories in my heart.
There’s a gentle tinkling and slow-burn epicness to this LP ‘Mug Museum’ from 2013, which latches onto you slowly like a lichen and won’t let go. This gets listened to while walking through the gentle sloping hills and mangroves in Auckland and it sounds good but in whatever setting you listen to it, it will probably appeal to you.
Ditto for this bumbling, quirky and sonically pleasing album from 2009. It’s as though you’re listening in on an awkward, vulnerable and delightful conversation between two imaginary beings in another dimension.
However nothing quite prepared me for this video clip/short film for the song ‘Crab Day’ from the eponymous new album. This short film is just beyond the pale bizarre. It’s what would happen if David Lynch and Wes Anderson sat in a room and ate magic mushrooms together and collaborated on a music video.
But it’s Cate Le Bon, so all is forgiven.
Why call an album ‘Crab Day’?
When recently interviewed by DIY magazine, Cate explained that “‘Crab Day’ is a made up holiday. It’s an exploration of the fear and the comfort that comes from acknowledging that. It’s something that my niece invented maybe 4 years ago – she had a volatile reaction to April Fool’s day and we realised that it was ridiculous. We renamed it Crab Day and spent the day searching for crabs with different hairstyles. I thought that’s as valid a reason for a holiday as any other,” laughs Cate.
“It’s an exploration of that idea of how something can be hugely important to one person and mean absolutely nothing to anybody else,” she says.
Anyway Cate Le Bon is touring her new album and will be kicking off a world tour in Auckland and then culminating in her home town of Cardigan in Wales.
Guess who’s going?
Cate Le Bon tour dates
And there’s this…possibly one of the cutest and yet the weirdest video clips I’ve seen
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