ALBUM - SAINT DYMPHNAE (2002) Bloodstar Records

ROCKUS MAGAZINE June 2002 by ALAN BOYD
Gata Negra is a stunningly original Perth-based independent band, headed by the sonic genius of Lux Mammoth's Cat Hope and assisted expertly by a small, diverse bunch of creative, courageous and very talented individual musicians. Saint Dymphnae is Gata Negra's second release and from the opening refrains to the last utterance there is meaning and art in every sonic space. The songs within are at once difficult, profound, unable to classify and beautiful in their depth of exploratory simplicity. At times Gata Negra build ambient-terrorscapes amongst melody - climbing textural swells of FX-laden musicality in weaving workshops of thick, bold sound clarity. Perfect tones reign; dark headspaces prevail and Cat Hope delivers words like drips of warm blood throughout each song. Gata Negra sail with emotive courage in each track, producing stunningly surreal textures Ü perhaps hinting at the disconnectness and frustration of living in Perth [the worldÍs most isolated capital city]. When there are no rules to follow Ü make your own. With Dirty Three-esque epic sweeps, Cat Hope and her band of avante-guerre musicians build deeply euphonic, yet massively claustrophobic walls only to rip them down in noise-control quality - awash with melodic counterpoint and rich, mesmerising lyrics. Deftly placed indecipherable sounds exist at levels under/over throughout the mix. It seems there are fresh sonic experiences waiting to be discovered by the listener at new sub-levels upon each listen. Evocative waves of stark clarity push boundaries and reach for lyrical promises; exquisite and precise poetry atop/amongst weeping pains of cello, bass, viola, guitar and various other instruments, building bass-rolls of bliss and intense sonic moments. Gata Negra is music at its most process-driven - without boundary of traditional restraint; never lacking in sonic ideas; or willingness to conform to specific narrative closure by device. The sonic textures are so filled with emotional energy and still wet with the journey of art rather than the mass-product driven packets of commercially viable hits we hear so much of in the mainstream.

KATHODIK MAGAZINE ( ITALY) May 2002 by Mauro Carrasai
(for original Italian version go to : kathodik)
Given that that hatred should be directed, I hate triviality and I consider complexity one of greatest gifts granted to our lifetimes. This album makes me violent in a way; it forces me to use few and simple words. "Saint Dymphnae" is magnificent. Cat Hope one of the most inspiring artists around. Gata Negra is reconfirmed as one of the most remarkable Australian musical truths, as the debut "Cage of Stars" had already opportunely demonstrated. The Bloodstar label, with its selective catalogue and the originality of its handmade packages is in itself something unforgettable. You have heard it said thousand times for many other albums, and many times you have unfortunately heard it in vain. Not now. For those with the incurable need for credentials, remember that Cat Hope has collaborated with the likes of Hugo Race, Stellarc, Ikue Mori; and dare I say with complete abandonment that her Gata Negra goes way beyond them. The atmosphere of "Saint Dymphnae" is consumately and fascinatingly noir, the veil of existential sadness that it covers these 'pop' songs is unequalled (Once Upon A Time and Your Smile Betrays You are shining examples), the expressive depth and intensity are simply unique. The growing desperation of Cruel is sweet and lamenting at same time, and Science Fiction Song polverises you like your fave song from Tindersticks, Gallon Drunk, or of the darker Cousteau, while the beginning of La Scalinata is pure whispered magic. Cat has a wonderful voice, and her bass arrangements make up the core of her songwriting, while the cello of Mel Robinson radiates, embezzles, tightens and deforms the melancholy that is the true heart and identity of this album. The guitar appears only discreetly here and there, at times a heart-breaking representation of the mood, the static moments, or the dramatic peaks of the compositions. But thatÍs enough, and I don't resist to declare.. one of the best albums you sill ever hear.

WAM On line April 2002 WAM CD of the Month by Harvey Rae
Dim the lights; better still, switch them off completely and light a candle. Sit back, ensure you're comfortable and get ready to take in what I expect will become known as one of the best releases to come out of Western Australia this or any other year. It's early in 2002, and that's a big call, but Gata Negra's "Saint Dymphnae" is that good. With little fanfare (they are better known overseas than in their hometown of Perth) Gata Negra have released their second album, a hauntingly cathartic release guaranteed to take you on deep soul-searching journey if you're prepared to go there. Opening lyrics "someone stole away your dreams" (la scalinata) reflect the imminent dark trip into the human psyche that is about to take place. One of the album's highlights, this 3 minute mini-epic displays lead songstress Cat Hope's unique ability to fit epic proportions into a pop song. There are few songwriters in the world today with this ability (try Grandaddy circa "The Software Slump", Radiohead circa "Amnesiac") but Hope manages to distil her uncomfortable images with the sort of ease that comes only from self-assured talent. The stark lyrical themes continue through cruel ("It's so real, the doubt you feel"), which, along with the cleverly titled one lies, the other exaggerates, provide the album's rockier (though no less moody) moments. More guitar and effects driven, these tracks serve to highlight how sparse the arrangements of other tracks seem. Much in the vein of Mercury Rev's "Deserters Songs", the guitar is seen here as an overrated instrument, making its impact all the more pronounced when it is used. Meandering through the uneasy ambience of close and too late, the second half of the album picks up with the exotic strings of trains, which, like much of the album, was written abroad (in Bologna), giving it an unmistakable feeling for the region. However, it isn't until the following track, once upon a time, that the album peaks. A repetitive banjo and subtle brush strokes in the verse give way to angelic vocal harmonies and divine chord changes in as gently lush a chorus as you could ever hope to hear. Following this is the album's last true epic, your smile betrays you, all drama and static strings, and in recent times, a closer to the Gata Negra live show. Much of the rest of the album traverses similarly melancholic ground, with sparse instrumentation and beautiful melodies. Often this is simply bass and vocals filled out (at appropriate times) with gorgeous string arrangements, and held together by some of the most creative drumming you're likely to hear. The way in which the tracks segue effortlessly into one another helps to create the sense of this being an album as a whole - a concept album without a particular concept if you like. Unfortunately this translates to there being no obvious choices for singles, leaving this to be an album which could, unfortunately, go largely unnoticed in the world of commercial sales. "Saint Dymphnae" comes to a close with the taste of iron, finishing things off in suprisingly upbeat fashion, and leaving you questioning the uneasy depths just encountered. Make no mistake however, this is not uplifting stuff. Rather it is music to drift away from the harsh reality of the world to - and into the next - safe in the knowledge that others are waiting there for you.

ALBUM - CAGE OF STARS Bloodstar Records (1999) and Telescopic (1999) France

IMPRESS MAGAZINE DECEMBER 1999 by Shane O'Donahue
We all know how easy it is to go from quite to loud to soft Ð more than one band has been know to make quite a comfortable living out of it, thanks very much - but the ability to do so over the space of a record without losing any power from the recording is something a little more difficult. Gata Negra, while leaning towards the former rather than the latter here, created a very powerful, involving record Ð the loud bits coming more from the claustrophobic arrangements (rumbling bass, cello, turntables etc) rather than vacuous slabs of distortion heavy guitar.

MAGIC! MODERN POP (France) September 1999 by Philippe Juge
Telescopic Ð well know organisers of the annual Les Femmes SÕen Melent festival and responsible for the presentation of Sophie MoletaÕs debut Ð have discovered another pearl. Based in Perth, Australia, Nata Negra is a trio Ð made up of Myles Durham (drums), Ant Gray (guitar) and writer Cat Hope (voice and bass) that makes a somewhat serious music that sits somewhere between a neurotic folk and a melancholic post Ð rock. It is impossible not to evoke Red House Painters, la Bradford, or Hugo Largo (2 superb albums at the end of the 80Õs) whilst listening to this Cage of stars. Every song has its own rhythm Ð slow - whilst supplying a small concentration of its own fragile and touching emotions. Each song has a particular similarity and difference, giving the album a strange equilibrium. Many guests contribute to the beauty of the album, with piano (Dream on Cady), a little voice (Sophie Moleta on My Little Bunny) as well as some cello and electo beatsÉ With Cage of Stars, Gata Negra has come to enlarge the circle of women, from PJ Harvey to Cat Power, who donÕt hesitate to reveal intimacy in their music.
Rating : 4 out of 6

PUMP #10 musical monthly (France) September 2000 by G.D.
Hypnotic songsÉ Hypnotic and enticing. Beautiful and true. Original and warm. Minimalist and obscure. Once could find a thousand such words to describve the incredibly rich atmostphere Cat HopeÕs GATA NEGRA has created. This album will not get you headbanging, but will keep the contents otherwise occupied! You will need to withstand anguished sounds, faraway voices, reverb, blue atmostpheres and an always present bass. If youÕre looking for influences try Portishead and Low. But Gata Negra is unique and this is what matters. This album has transpired the west Australian heat and is worth more than just a listen. So this year, leave the beaten path and dare to enjoy Gata Negra.

POP NEWS (France) March 2000 by Guillenme P.
The PAris label Telescopic, just after the sumptuous album from Sophie Moleta, astonishes us now With the Australian trio GATA NEGRA. Out of a rather cold and austere atmosphere, with marauding bass and the voice of Cat Hope, a pure and intense music soon captures the listener, hypnotised by the airy grace of the albums own universe, an incredibly personal and emotional one at that. They have many influences and references, taking different songs gin different directions (think Low on the tracks Those Short Hours and Families, or Portishead on Ridge, and And Also The Trees for Dream On Cady), never reducing the albums effect. And so, their secret? A true personality, an undeniable talent, and a skill to unify and take posession of a whole musical range like other bands we love form the antipodes - Chris Knox, The Chills, The Apartments, Sophie Moleta or even Nick Cave and ACDC. Cat Hope could call herself the most feline of singers, her band the black cat Ð and black cats bring bad luck. But this band is the exception that confirms the rule.

OCTOPUS #12 ete 2000 (France)
No need for a million tricks for Gata Negra, who propose a languid pop atmostphere with their album Cage Of Stars. Here the listener can lsnguish in the harmonic lines of guitar, or in Cat HopeÕs voice, which creates a sweet yet bitter, sinous arrangments that sometimes remind us of Mazzy Star, but this is something that tends to dwell on more somber sounds (like the track Lux Mammoth).

XPRESS MAGAZINE May 1999 by Micheal Lock
Its a rare and beautiful thing to discover an album that utterly avoids categorization and generic restraints, forcing the listener to think beyond the typical three-word summation to which most albums can sadly be reduced to. Gata Negra have no discernible musical limitations and deserve your attention if only to remind you that this whole music shebang survives through dynamic aberrations and hybridization. The deft production on Cage Of Stars doesn't make any geographical assumptions possible either, so the discovery that this is chiefly the work of local chanteuse and multi-instrumentalist Cat Hope is a real find. From the outset the album reverberates within its own spectre of humanity. At times bleak, at times redemptive, but always unrelenting in is honesty. Hope's vocals evoke the same unnerving authenticity that Nico explored with the added breathlessness of a Julie Cruise hymn. An all-star ensemble cast from sources as wide as turntablist Boogieman Krak,. drummer Myles Durham, guitarist Ant Gray and cellist Viv Lanqham enforces the prevailing eclecticism and provides the perfect backdrop to Hope's narrative. By the time Ridge opens with 'you're a spineless piece shit' you think you've got no control', you will have either submitted to Cage Of Stars or filed it under the too hard basket. Me? I threw away the basket.

BEAT MAGAZINE, Melbourne, June 1999 by Anthony Carew
Gata Negra is, in essence, Cat Hope, a girl from Perth. If you have no idea who that is, don't worry, neither do I. But Cage of Stars is, quite simply, a wonderful record. Hope sings and plays bass, others add distant drums and daubs of guitar, and scattered throughout are gentle little snippets and trinkets of hand-held sound (including, even, some of the turntabled kind). Hope sings beautifully, I might add, and the jumbled - together sounds of her songs come together just as beautifully, often with so much reverb it sounds like Kramer may have recorded. Much of the reason they come together, as it were, is due to their simplicity. Hope finds a simple rhythm, beds her voice, and then the rest of the song is draped around such. Which would, I guess, seem to indicate a certain strength in her 'presence'. But, if these sketchy descriptives are making Cage of Stars seem like a just - as-sketchy musical outing, such descriptives would be misleading. There are several moments on the record that actually, y'know, uh, rock. Dream On Cady - with it's fuzzy bass, clanky drums, purring vocals and crank-hacked cello - manages to, pricelessly, capture that PJ Harvey Dry sound ( and more importantly, a spirit ) that many have mimicked but few have grasped. And, later, theres an entirely beguiling and rather brilliant tune called Ridge (any easier) which could, with flippant words, easily be called a 'pop song'. To read home such an idea, it's first line is, indeed, the spat out assertion 'you're a spineless piece of shit', before such eagerness gives way to gracefulness. And, indeed, it is the handful of truly elegant moments herein - most obviously seen in opener Those Short Hours - that colour Cage of Stars in its softest shadows.

BUBBLEHEAD Music magazine, MAY 1999 by Micheal Seaman
Gata Negra perform live as the trio of Cat Hope, Ant Gray and Myles Durham. Here, they are assisted by such people as Sophie Moleta, Kim Williams, Viv Langham and Boogieman Krak. Some of the songs are mostly Cat with little adornment from the backing musicians, giving it a minimal feel. In the glorious sixth track My little bunny, Cat starts off sounding like Nico and ends up sounding like Julee Cruise. But it's not a disc you can put on as background music; something pops up to catch your attention, like the distorted instrumental Lux Mammoth (which happens to be the name of another Cat Hope project). It was mostly recorded in North Perth Town Hall by Al Smith. An older song,166 that throbs with a slow tremolo was recorded in Italy. It still fits in with the local recordings. The most magnificent song is Ridge, which has the lyrics, melody, chords and wise use of effects to grab your attention and never let go. This is a work of art: it has skill, emotion and thought. You don't get all three together often enough. It is something I have been playing everyday, and hasn't gone back into the CD rack.