CATE LE BON - Mug Museum

Our Staff Best Of 2013 list will be posted soon is now posted, but as a preview, this late-year release worked its way onto four staff members' lists (more than any other title), and thus is our shop's favourite new release of the year!

"Welsh songwriter Cate Le Bon returns, less than two years removed from her triumphant Cyrk. There's a dreamy, gauzy feel in many of the record's 10 tracks; Le Bon's recent relocation to sunny California—Mug Museum was recorded in Los Angeles—could have a lot to do with it. 'No God' is embodied by a strong, rolling bass line and high-gain guitar; 'Mirror Me' floats on faint, feverish church organ and sluggish, thumping drums. There's a palpable heat in her new songs that's more intense than her previous work; you can hear the fiery psychedelia in the swirling, clashing woodwinds and scorched, distorted chords." - Under The Radar

"'Los Angeles is a constellation of plastic,' wrote novelist Norman Mailer when describing the
so-called City Of Angels, so it's no wonder alarm bells rang earlier this year when Welsh maverick Cate Le Bon swapped her home of Cardiff for the west coast of America. Since her 2009 debut Me Oh My, the singer's records have been full of bizarre meditations on death and mortality, wrapped in strange flurries of experimental noise. It was easy to worry that being surrounded by wannabe film stars and sunshine would rid Le Bon of her idiosyncrasies, but she hasn’t been sucked dry by L.A. On the contrary, buggering off to new climes may be the finest decision she’s ever made. Mug Museum, her third full-length, is as wonderfully weird as any of its predecessors. And there's now sparseness in her music, plus a cool, controlled confidence that showcases her knack for the surreal more than ever." - NME