Fresh off the aural hell that was Iconic By Mistake, Katseye are continuing their new EP rollout with Animal. Thus far, the group has pinballed between gimmicky ragebait and ultra-generic pop, making their overall identity a mystery. Their sweet spot likely lies somewhere between both extremes, but their producers have struggled to find it. Animals‘s Ed Sheeran-led team of composers is not the way forward, and the song’s anonymous sound bears that out.
This probably isn’t the comparison the producers were looking for, but on first listen Animal conjured memories of the brief but mighty cultural dominance of Duffy’s late-2000s hit Mercy. Katseye don’t have nearly as dynamic of vocal tones, but the song’s strutting percussion casts a similar groove. If I were to be more antagonistic, I’d probably compare this to a Meghan Trainor song instead. And here lies the problem: since Katseye have waffled so much with their sound, all we can really do is compare them to other acts. I’m not sure what makes this a Katseye song. I can hear just about anyone singing it to similar effect.
Purely on an aesthetic level, Animal is fine. It makes no strong moves in any direction and conforms to familiar structure. Its melodic range is narrow and mostly just vamps along the rhythm. It’s the kind of song I could imagine hearing the background as I’m shopping. I might even hum along here and there as I scan the shelf for deals. Someone could walk up and ask me if there’s anything they could help me with and we might have a pleasant exchange as Katseye continue to softly sing in the background. The song may even repeat more than once and I’d hardly notice. At least they’d get a couple more streams out of it, I guess.
Hooks
7
Production
7
Longevity
7
Bias
7
RATING
7