ALBUM REVIEW: Team Spirit and Thoughtful Songcraft Animate ‘The Very Best of Fantastic Cat’

One highlight of The Very Best of Fantastic Cat — a debut album, not a compilation — is “Amigo,” a sweet, toe-tapping ode to friendship that proclaims, “I don’t care if we ain’t blood, oh we’re brothers, don’t you know.” Such gentle positivity would suit an uplifting kids’ song, but instead of projecting a simple “Won’t you be my neighbor?” vibe, “Amigo” aims to help a hard-up pal handle all manner of grown-up woes, from existential crises to financial hardship, concluding, “I know you’d do the same / If our positions were reversed.”

Fantastic Cat in the city (photo by Vivian Wang)

This supportive mindset defines Fantastic Cat, the joint venture of four singer-songwriters who all enjoy viable musical careers on their own. Collectively, Anthony D’Amato, Don DiLego, Brian Dunne, and Mike Montali offer lively variations on such old masters as Springsteen and Dylan, along with robust echoes of ’70s California rock and whatever trashy power ballad you enjoy singing along to when no one else is around. Everybody trades instruments and each member contributes at least two songs, making this engaging set feel like a genuine group effort.

Lucky for the guys they have plenty of team spirit to draw on, because Fantastic Cat’s songs evoke a world of troubles sure to tax even the stoutest hearts. The album kicks off with D’Amato’s “C’mon Armageddon,” a rollicking descendant of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” that laments societal dysfunction in general and savages a certain “piece of shit” ex-president in particular, confessing, “I’m standing by the front door just waiting on a meteor to land,” a relatable sentiment for anybody who’s felt the world is going to hell lately.

However bleak the subject, these intrepid troubadours perform their well-crafted songs with cathartic, life-affirming fervor, suggesting you can keep the darkness at bay with strong tunes and some simpatico mates. Dunne’s rowdy “Nobody’s Coming to Get You” confronts adult disillusion after the loss of youthful dreams, exclaiming, “Nobody’s going to make this easy,” as a piercing guitar solo underlines the desperation. Montali’s aching “Wild & Free” follows longtime lovers in a “beat-up town” who need each other to survive, sighing, “Lean on me, if I lean on you,” while the exhilarating DiLego composition “New Year’s Day” raises hope with a pounding piano and stomping beat, exclaiming, “Just keep finding the sunlight!”

A rock-and-roll gem with a roaring, freight-train heart, Dunne’s “The Gig” surveys the struggling musician’s life, complete with car trouble, fear of failure, and shuttered venues. When he moans, “Such a sad, sick game we play … I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” it’s impossible not to sympathize. But if his bitterly funny saga means to warn others off the same path, the rest of Fantastic Cat’s vibrant album carries a different message, making the idea of playing in band seem like a fine one indeed.

The Very Best of Fantastic Cat is out July 29.

Fantastic Cat (photos by Shervin Lainez)