the black watch Follow a Cat Through London on Album Number 27 and “Never You Mind” Is One of Their Best Songs in Years

John Andrew Fredrick has been making records as the black watch since 1987, and album number 27 arrives October 2 on ATOM Records. The Fuzzy End of the Lollipop was produced by Rob Campanella (ex-Brian Jonestown Massacre), who also plays bass, alongside master producer Scott Campbell (Stevie Nicks, Shelby Lynne, Acetone) and guitarist Andy Creighton. The album cover features four cats in a band-photo pose. The cats belong to Campanella and apparently jump on the studio monitors regularly because it is warm up there. This is all relevant context.

“Never You Mind” is the new single and the video follows Fifi, director Ian Holmes’s black cat, through the streets of London and onto a festival stage in front of an adoring crowd. The song itself is deeply Beatles-influenced, built around a piccolo trumpet hook that Fredrick says the band had been wanting to use for years, a direct nod to Magical Mystery Tour. Beneath the buoyancy the lyrics are about something more grounded: the waste of worrying, the reminder that being double-crossed or star-crossed or just cross with life is not worth the energy you give it. Fredrick has been writing songs to console listeners for the vicissitudes of life for nearly four decades. He is very good at it.

Eleven tracks of indie rock, dream pop, and shoegaze that reward repeated listens. Pre-order below.

Pre-order The Fuzzy End of the Lollipop ↗

1“Marie Bouzkova”

2“Never You Mind”

3“Sorrow’s Crown”

4“The Merry Kind”

5“The Fuzzy End of the Lollipop”

6“Falter, Splutter, Fall”

7“Everything Changed!”

8“Stars at Last”

9“In Generalities”

10“Her Halo”

11“Sorrow’s Crown (Dance Mix)”