Cats on trees: Keep on dancing

Remember Cats on Trees? Of course you do. Siren's Call was a charming piece of French indie appropriation of a very English style song, and it quite rightly became a massive hit in 2013, reaching the top three in the French charts.

Their self-titled debut was released that year and it made the top ten in France, the following year singer Nina Goern and musical collaborator Yohan Hennequin picked up a Victoires de la Musique award for best breakthrough album for the collection.

But other than a stint as coaches on The Belgian edition of The Voice, there's not been a lot to report in terms of new releases since then.

So it's good to report a new track with an accompanying video, and a new album due out shortly.

Keep on dancing take the duo in a slightly different direction. More dancefloor, less Belle and Sebastain perhaps, but the charm that helped establish them is still there.

The new album by Cats on Trees, entitled Neon,  is due out on March 16. They play at La Cigale in Paris on May 16.

Cats on Trees: Siren's Call

One of the good things about January is having a bit of time to to catch up with some of the things that I
missed last year.

One of the acts I failed to give my full attention to was Cats on Trees, who I heard good things about but failed to actually listen to. A grave mistake that I quickly put right this month.

The duo from Toulouse, consisting of Nina Goern and Yohan Hennequin released their self-titled debut album in October last year. Siren's call was their first single.

The album reached the top 40 in France, and has been nominated for the Breakthrough Album category in this year's  Les Victoires de la Musique awards.

They're the kind of act that you instantly like as soon as you hear them, the kind of band you can't believe you haven't heard them before.

I'm certain that 2014 will be a breakthough year for them.

They've got extensive live dates all over France in the next few months, and play at La Cigale in Paris on May 6