Big Big Heart – Kittens Slay Dragons (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Catalysts come in many shapes and forms, and that’s a finely hued pun right from start. After hitting a difficult point in her personal life and searching for the missing motivation towards her musical career, Sarah Donner found an unexpected shift in focus came from a very unlikely source. After adopting Melon, a cat with more than it’s own share of health related hurdles to overcome, she realised that sometimes you can slay your own dragons by helping those around you, take the focus away from your own struggles and seeing life from a new perspective.

 
So it was out with the guitars and ukuleles that were her usual go to instruments and in with the synths and drum machines and Kittens Slay Dragons was born. Theirs is a life affirming, day-glow pop built on beeps and boops, synth washes and chiming electronica. It draws a line from the 80’s post-punk, techno pioneers such as Depeche Mode to their modern successors such as Chvrches which crosses one that links the bubble-gum pop of the past with the searching eclecticism of wayward artists such as Bjork.

But beyond the music it is the message behind the songs that jumps off the musical page, and Sarah’s re-avowed love letter to the world around her and the people, and by people I mean cats too of course, in it is as refreshing as it is infectious. But I guess the biggest message is that maybe it is focusing outwards and on the smallest of things that can have the biggest effect your life.