THE CAT EMPIRE release 'So Many Nights', 4/22

Melbourne, Australia’s THE CAT EMPIRE are set to release their third album, So Many Nights.

"So Many Nights refers to the songs," says bandleader Felix Riebl. "They’re little vignettes from our travels, stories that got etched out in the back of a tour bus over the years. You get to a point, living like that, where it really gets hard to distinguish between what's happening and what's a dream."

"We were keen to step beyond our regular party thing," says The Cat Empire’s other singer, trumpet player Harry Angus. "We were all ready to make something crafted, more musically solid. We wanted to try stuff that developed, maybe let the melody do the work, rather than trying to pack it with explosions."

Fireworks are standard accessories with this band - Ollie McGill (keys), ‘Jumps’ Khadiwala (decks), Ryan Monro (bass) and Will Hull-Brown (drums) - but the new, smoldering shades of subtlety are likely to be a revelation to anyone who's caught one of The Cat Empire's 600 shows between Melbourne and Montreal over the past six years.

The Cat Empire’s self-titled debut album was a huge success in their native Australia in 2003, where it scored double platinum sales and 7 ARIA nominations (that’s Australian for Grammy).

In 2005, they recorded the follow up Two Shoes in the legendary Studio 101 in Havana, Cuba. Released by the Velour Music Group here in the US, Two Shoes was greeted with critical accolades, late night TV appearances and standing room only audiences. The Philadelphia Daily News summed up Two Shoes with: “The Cat Empire brassy, sassy, prowlers who connect bar-band soul, island riddims, hip-hop turntablilism, rude-boy punk and even gypsy-wedding flavor and music hall.”

From David Letterman to Jay Leno, the Glastonbury Festival to New York's Central Park Summerstage, Japan to Barcelona, WOMADelaide to the Montreal Jazz Festival and rave reviews at all stops, it often seemed The Cat Empire were sole nominees for “Superlative of the Year” (Indefinable Genre Division) 2006/2007.

So Many Nights was produced at Sing Sing studios in Melbourne by the legendary John Porter (Roxy Music, The Smiths, Los Lonely Boys, Ryan Adams), and mixed by John in Malibu, as the Empire continued their relentless world tour night by night, to an average of 2,500 people per gig.

The poignant first single on So Many Nights, "No Longer There" shows the band breaking new ground. "It's the first time I've written a song about an issue, if you like," says Felix. "I live this dreamlike, magic life, where you don’t have many responsibilities, but I also know that people need to change the way they're living and realize a few basic responsibilities. It's been interesting for me to find that line."