How you feel about the Whisky Cats probably depends on how you feel about brass. Sometimes it can add a bold vitality to the sound, like with ska punks Less than Jake, but a little often goes a long way. If you’re a fan of a band like Madness then the chances are you’ll dig what the Whisky Cats are doing. If, on the other hand, you find Suggs and co insanely irritating then they probably aren’t for you.

The crazy-ass skatting on the intro to ‘Slipped Disco’ paves the way for the album’s irreverent sound in fine style. Then the creeping bass of ‘Amsterdam’ heralds that something shifty is afoot, as Whiskey Cats frontman Mathew Whitaker sings about getting hassled by a “Viagra selling man”. It’s not an amazing song, but it’s not bad either, and its trumpets, whaling sax, and jazz beat are certainly a bit different from Razorlight’s latest.

‘Locked out Lover’ slows things down a few notches with the tale of a drunk guy coming back from a big night only to find himself locked out the house. To give you a flavour of the storytelling prowess at work here, the opening couplet is “I’m drunk/let me in”. There’s also a honking, brass-tastic outro, with some whaling sax action thrown in for good measure. Nice.

Listening to the Whiskey Cats self-titled debut, I can’t help thinking they would come over much better live. The band would go down a storm in a sweaty club, but on record their music just doesn’t have enough subtlety or nuance to keep you listening from start to finish. That being said, the Whiskey Cats’ punchy, vaudevillian sound has been well crafted and they should be applauded for doing something unique.

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