New Yorkers, The Cradle and Ramp Local!, are swinging fresh new year hands in preparation for the physical release of Temperate Lands. In one corner, we have the solo project of writer and Big Neck Police member, Paco Cathcart (a.k.a. The Cradle). And under The Cradle, Cathcart transforms dozens of hushed songs that could have easily been found lost and in need of love on the forest floor. Cathcart’s compositions — improved or not — are poignant and directed, seeming to wander around minding its own business. Incredible, but also unsurprising, The Cradle has amassed 18 releases in a mere three years, only adding to the feathered 4-track wingspan of Cathcart.
In the other corner, new label Ramp Local! is boosting Temperate Lands as their first release of 2016 – a killer restart to an already killer catalog (Macula Dog, Erica Eso, Other Body). The Cradle is only going to keep their claws sharper longer.
Temperate Lands was originally self-released by The Cradle in mid-October, but was later taken down and pushed back in favor of Cathcart’s second physical release – the first coming with Drink The Water still out on Feeding Tube Records. Now, after a few months that saw the release of two more songs from The Cradle, we get our first re-peek into Temperate Lands. “Watering” trots throughout it’s five-minute life, surrounded by near-cartoonish bells and whistles or stranded at a noisy intersection daydreaming around how much space an open field really has. “I was watering my plants today,” Cathcart begins, “nothing happened after that.” A simple, straight-forward notion that comes to our table in a large, covered platter. Are they bored, lost, vacant, or content? Cathcart’s voice builds near the end of “Watering” as the importance of this memory fades, something Temperate Lands won’t do for some time.