Today marks the release date of one of my favorite albums of the year; Catfish Haven’s Tell Me can be found in all your favorite record stores and online retailers. If you’ve followed this website for any length of time you know that I’ve always been fascinated with this group from Chicago. I’ve bumped into them in a lot of cities around the US, and can really say that the expectations I had for this album continue to be surpassed exponentially with each passing play.

There are two distinct memories I have folded into my collection of thoughts about Catfish Haven. The first is when I downloaded “Please Come Back” off their critically acclaimed debut EP that bears the songs name on Secretly Canadian. I can remember driving with friends as we played that song over and over and over again. I wasn’t even coming off any huge heartbreaking collapse or anything, but the words and feelings I was overwhelmed with while listening to that song was enough for me to seek out their entire EP.

My second memory stems from seeing the band live for the first time in June. I was working in Philadelphia and the boys from Catfish Haven just happened to be in town playing this tiny ass club, but it might as well been Madison Square Garden. This was one of those concert experiences where you don’t grab a beer during the set, don’t hit the bathroom even though you really got to go, and you most certainly never check your watch because you’re worried about the business lecture you’re doing for a room full of lawyers the following day. Instead, the time seems to drift aimlessly by, and in that hour there was nowhere else I wanted to be – except maybe on stage.

Since that time I’ve had some wonderful fun watching the band’s audience grow. A testament to this is the recent post that Eric did for us in my absence. I watched the band set up for their show which kicked off the final day of Lollapalooza to a dreary and somewhat cold morning. I was upset because here was a hometown band, playing music that nearly everyone can relate to, and the weather was going to severely damper the attendance. Instead, one-by-one the crowd began to filter in and the band, for that day backed by an expanded line-up played to a huge audience and definitely garners the attention that they deserved that day.

Fast forward about a month later to today and I find the same band, playing the same music that won me over from the first song, but this time with a full offering of material. The brilliance that was their debut EP was that it was short and to the point. This time around on Tell Me the band takes a bold step in allowing additional musicians to enter their usual 3-piece routine, and they don’t disappoint. Tell Me is that jack-of-all-trades album. It will walk you straight down memory lane if you let your thoughts wander far enough. Your friends will ask you, “what band are we listening to,” as the album closes down one day and welcomes the next at some late night after bar. Tell Me is a record that belongs in your collection.

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Catfish Haven – Crazy For Leaving You [mp3]
Be their friend on Myspace
Check out the YouTube video we shot at Lollapalooza for “Please Come Back”
Make sure to swing by Daytrotter for a well-written review and MP3′s.