Peter Cat Recording Co. became a big name when last year’s ‘Portrait Of A Time’ dropped and introduced them as a genre-skipping bunch of talented songwriters who had no problem with experimenting and taking time to build their music. The new single ‘Where The Money Flows’ had no shortage of weirdness and experimentation, but is markedly more toned down than previous efforts.

The first single from the album, ‘Floated By’ had a more upbeat groove and had that awesome blend of horns, old-world keys and laid-back groove that the band is known for. The song had great bass, squeaky guitars and some of the tastiest synth fills in any song coming out of the country in a while. ‘Where The Money Flows’, by comparison, is a solid change of pace that’s probably going to stand out in any track listing just by virtue of how left of centre it is. It’s not as hopeful as ‘Floated By’ or anywhere near as full in its instrumentation. The song starts out with some ambience and one lonely xylophone or toy piano phrase that truly sounds like its playing in a room by itself. The main melodic component is a muted, very woolly acoustic guitar that kits in front of some minimal organ textures and Suryakant Sawnhey’s contrastingly strong vocal delivery, which really sounds like he heard the stuff playing in passing and just gate-crashed the song. There’s a feel of simple storytelling and easy-going playing on this track that has a campfire-y indie feel. But somehow the band finds room to experiment even in this, with percussion that’s mainly a kick drum and a clap, and some very punchy front-and-centre bass. As the song shifts from section to section, the band adds little touches here and there to keep things fresh. And, of course, there’s another weird and quirky left turn towards the song’s conclusion, where Suryakant’s strident delivery is replaced by some heavily autotuned vocals that you’re not sure whether to take seriously or laugh at. It doesn’t go with the vibe the backing instrumentation creates, but I would guess that’s the point.

Bismillah - Album Cover

Even though ‘Where The Money Flows’ is a forlorn and bitter song at its core, the band approaches it with a ton of fun and freedom, thus transforming the experience from a drab one to one you can laugh with, cry to or silly-dance to.
The band’s next album ‘Bismillah’ releases on June 7.

Watch the official music video of 'Where The Money Flows' below: