Cate Rox
Mind vs. Heart

That is a real rock ‘n’ roll name, Cate Rox, the question that arises in my mind when I see that is: does Cate rock? Well, that is a question that I will soon write down an answer to, but first let me just run you through a hyperfast background. This is the debut of German singer/songwriter Cate Rox and it has a really good cover photo and if the album is half as interesting as the picture it will be wonderful. They say that Cate was born to sing and that she has been in London and many other things that aren’t really very interesting. What is interesting is that she releases this debut album.

And it is an album of pop-rock music with Cate singing. Quite catchy and quite melodic, easy to take in songs – many with great hit potential. Excellent production, the sound is very good and polished, the thing is that all of the album feels rather polished as well. Cate has a darkish voice and I don’t quite like it, I think she needs to move more outside her comfort zone and let the heart win a little bit more. It works well in some of the tracks and less well in other tracks. And speaking of tracks, there are 13 on the album and they show a decent amount of variation that makes the 47 minutes it play for seem like a decent playing time.

The album is good, some tracks are great but I still think that the overall sensation is that it is a decent piece of work that is being too cautious. I think that she could have dared more, moved outside the conventional and also made some more songs with more speed and energy, like track ten. I think that Cate’s voice is a part of the issue for me, I don’t think it works for all of the songs but overall I still think that the album will work for a fairly wide audience due to the fact that it is so easy to take to and probably like. I like parts of the album but not all of it.

Track four, five and six are really good and the tenth is another highlight while the rest of the album is merely okay. So, does Cate really rock? The answer is sort of. She has great potential that I don’t think is fully realised with this debut album, but it can still be worth checking out.

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