The Cat person in all of us needs to have a seat because Nashville psychedelic-folk trio Grandpa Egg has put together its first full-length record mostly dedicated to the life, thoughts, and every day whims of their now immortalized tabby named Mokey.
The “unceremoniously self-released” Songs For My Cat came out this past August as Jeb and Bart Morris’s playful idea turned toy piano-driven homage that’s capable of unleashing the primal urge in listeners to dangle a string over some cat’s head be it during a nice family dinner, alone in the comfort of the living room or even driving down the road. Songs For My Cat impressively sets that mood regardless of location or access to cats.
The brothers Morris pull off a mid-paced clunky and childlike folk record in these 10 tracks as Jeb’s somewhat slurred, off-Donovan voice and strummed acoustic guitar accompanies Bart’s multiple contributions on bass, toy piano, ukulele and auxiliary shenanigans. All of this brings Jon Brion’s scores to mind, while Jeb’s imaginative and introspective lyrics take off from the very beginning in a few non-Mokey songs saved from previous projects. Though Mokey-less, they set the musical standard for the rest of the album.
Mokey’s first tribute comes along in the Halloweenish “You’ve Got the Madness,” which was inspired by the little guy losing his marbles from time to time and showing sudden symptoms of yowling, scampering, wildly twitching and darting off in different directions for no reason, according to Jeb Morris, while further on Songs, “Hairball Shimmey” deals a little more with Mokey’s spasticity brought on by wicked hairball spells instead of plain-crazy cat thoughts. The crux of the album, though, is the heroic ballad, “Mokey’s Gloveball Quest,” which chronicles the protagonist’s journey through the in and out of doors in search of a favorite toy. Bart Morris supplies the background of light bongos, rattling wood blocks, and a recorder over this lengthy spoken word epic. It gets intense but leaves you back to normal by the most peaceful and final song of the album, “Brain Acre,” joined by the brothers’ friend, Inga on keyboard xylophone keys while Jeb and Bart whistle and pick a ukulele all the way out.
Grandpa Egg has been running up and down the eastern states for a year and a half, now, playing shows catch as catch can and stopping back in Nashville when it’s time for a break and a home-cooked gig. December and January have them running up to Ohio and Kentucky at the beginning of both months. Touring details, band information and copies of Songs For My Cat are available for your own price at grandpaegg.com, or available for a listen at reverbnation.com/grandpaegg.
