Cats on Fire

Cats burning, a shambling Finnish twee group whose nostalgic music nod towards the Smiths, the marriage Present, as well as the Orchids, thanks a lot in no little part to business lead vocalist Mattias Bjorkas’ warbly, Morrissey-esque croon, formed in Vasa, Finland, in 2001. The group underwent many lineup shifts in its formative years, but finally solidified in 2004 with Bjorkas, guitarist Ville Hopponen, bassist Kenneth Höglund, and drummer Henry Ojala. The band’s initial discharge, a four-track vinyl-only affair known as Solid Work, arrived on Elva Information in 2003, and was implemented up in 2004 by an EP, Pleasure Is normally Chemistry. Another EP, Sketching in the Reins, premiered on Sweden’s Small percentage Discs 2 yrs later. Cats burning were purchased by Germany’s Marsh-Marigold on the effectiveness of that disk, and their debut full-length, The Province Complains, premiered on that label in early 2007. As Felines on Fire’s popularity grew, they captured the interest of American indie Matinée Recordings, which released Our Temperance Movement in ’09 2009 and Coping in Antiques the next year. The music group could tour stateside and in 2012 released its 4th LP, All Blackshirts if you ask me.