{"id":10245,"date":"2026-04-15T16:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/adopt-fantastic-cat\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T16:29:05","slug":"adopt-fantastic-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/adopt-fantastic-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"Adopt Fantastic Cat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/leadFantasticCatByVivianWangFikriAbdurakhman_HighRes_5.jpg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" alt=\"Fantastic Cat. (Credit: Vivian Wang Fikri and Abdurakhman)\"><figcaption>Fantastic Cat. (Credit: Vivian Wang Fikri and Abdurakhman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Brian Dunne was my favorite \u201cnew to me\u201d artist of 2025. His album <em>Clams Casino<\/em> mixed bitterly clever yet never cynical lyrics with the kind of Billy Joel-meets-Bruce Springsteen pop rock that ruled 1980s radio. It gave me something I didn\u2019t know I was missing. Ever since, I\u2019ve been craving more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The more is here, sort of. Turns out Dunne is also one-fourth of the singer-songwriter supergroup Fantastic Cat. The other three members are also veterans of the NYC singer-songwriter scene: Anthony D\u2019Amato, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali (of the band Hollis Brown). Each is an artist slightly out of time, so it makes sense that they\u2019d follow their 1980s muses to form their own Traveling Wilburys.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/madonnas-confessions-sequel\/\">Madonna\u2019s Back In A Dance Mood On \u2018Confessions II\u2019<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/nine-inch-nails-boys-noize-new-album\/\">Nine Inch Nails, Boys Noize Detail New Album<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/wu-lyf-album-review\/\">WU LYF Returns From 15 Year Slumber to Make Us Feel Again<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/FINAL-12x12inch-NOISE.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-658144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/FINAL-12x12inch-NOISE.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/FINAL-12x12inch-NOISE-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/FINAL-12x12inch-NOISE-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/FINAL-12x12inch-NOISE-498x498.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><\/figure>\n<p>Like the Wilburys, Fantastic Cat is a lot of fun. But their third album, the newly released <em>Cat Out Of Hell<\/em>, finds the group achieving something that eluded the Wilburys: They sound like an actual band. Meaning, this isn\u2019t just different artists hanging out and jamming on leftover songs. This album finds the members\u2019 complimentary-yet-distinct styles coming together for a unified sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And trust me, I was really listening for the solo artists within. Since I came to this band via Dunne, I was eager to hear \u201chis\u201d songs. But for the most part, they don\u2019t exist. Even when he sings lead, those tracks equally feature DiLego\u2019s shimmering guitars or the folksy rhythms of D\u2019Amato. Their separate strengths combine to create a collection of folk and Americana-leaning rockers that frequently turn out to be more emotional underneath on second listen. In this way, the supergroup that Fantastic Cat really resembles is the \u201990s collection of Minnesota legends Golden Smog.<\/p>\n<p>Take, for example, early single and standout track \u201cDon\u2019t Let Go.\u201d It\u2019s a perfect heartland rock anthem; big, bold, and yet also strikingly defiant in its message to never let go of youthful passions. Not in a cheesy \u201cfollow your dreams\u201d way. Lyrics like \u201cNothing you can buy can save what you sold\u201d come from a hard-fought, lived perspective. Similarly mature emotions creep up in the deceptively jangly and bright \u201cI Spoke To God A Lot Last Year\u201d and the bitterly twangy \u201cThe Waiting Room.\u201d Even \u201cElevator\u201d\u2014which sonically calls to mind the Wilburys\u2019 \u201cRattled\u201d and is also in the third slot\u2014is ultimately a fairly dark call to save the world yourself since nobody\u2019s coming to help. This is an album made by friends cutting loose, but in doing so, they achieve catharsis for themselves and the listener.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, some songs are also simply fun. Lead-off track \u201cDonnie Takes The Bus\u201d is a Dawes-esque number that\u2019ll sound great at your summer BBQs, and \u201cHow\u2019s That Working Out\u201d feels like you\u2019re being chased in the best way possible. In fact, the only song I didn\u2019t connect with is the album closer \u201cNobody Better,\u201d which ditches the fun to be self-serious in a frustratingly straight-ahead way.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, the rest of <em>Cat Out Of Hell <\/em>captures the do-anything energy of a band that\u2019s famous for trading instruments every few songs at their live shows. Like many side projects, the goal with everything they do seems to be having a good time\u2014even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasticcatband.com\/home\" target=\"_blank\">the FAQ on their website<\/a> is a clever, fun read\u2014but they do it well enough that it never feels like a goof. They earn the \u201csupergroup\u201d distinction, will make perfect \u201cporch music\u201d as we move into warmer months, and most of all, this will hold me over until Brian Dunne puts out a new solo album.<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fantastic Cat. (Credit: Vivian Wang Fikri and Abdurakhman) Brian Dunne was my favorite \u201cnew to me\u201d artist of 2025. His album Clams Casino mixed bitterly clever yet never cynical lyrics&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5879,24,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantastic-cat","category-pushly","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}