Welcome back cats, kittens, lovers and other strangers. It’s me again. Milkshake. The cat.

Well, it finally happened. The Food Guy put Fluffy and me into our pet carriers, packed us into the back seat of his car, and drove us all from the little town of LaGrange, Georgia to the big city of Houston, Texas. Fluffy meowed all the way to Baton Rouge. This is what it sounded like.

You can hear me in the background telling her to be quiet. Eventually I gave up and settled down in my carrier and took a nap. I made the drive from Houston to LaGrange four years ago, so I knew it wasn’t so bad. The Idiot Cat calmed down after we crossed the Mississippi River on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge. It is the highest bridge on the Mississippi, and Fluffy was nervous about driving over it. The Food Guy used to be nervous about driving over bridges, but they don’t bother him now. He says there are plenty of more important things to be nervous about.

When we moved to Houston we swapped a three bedroom house for a one bedroom apartment. And The Food Guy moved his job from an antique wooden table in his dining room, where he could hear the donkeys across the road and watch the chipmunks playing on the front porch, to a metal table in a freezing cold workroom populated by six very loud co-workers. None of us have felt like listening to music lately, much less writing about it. So I was happy a couple of nights ago when The Food Guy said “Hey, cat, come listen to this!” And this is what I heard…

Then The Food Guy downloaded all of eric + erica’s songs and we stretched out on the bed and listened to them. This is Good Music for cats and humans.

eric + erica are (is?) based in Durham, North Carolina. The Food Guy said he spent a summer there, selling black history books door-to-door. I don’t know what that means, but I’m not sure why anyone would want to buy a history book with a black cover. I would rather buy a history book with a nice picture on the cover. Like a painting of Abraham Lincoln’s cats, Tabby and Dixie, helping him write the Declaration of Independence. What? He didn’t write that? Well I’ve never been to school, you know. And I’m sure that whoever wrote it got plenty of help from a cat. Anyway, back to eric + erica…

Erica sings lead vocals and plays the autoharp. Eric adds keyboards, percussion, and harmonies. They describe their music as “dream pop.” I hear classic pop songs about simple, bittersweet themes of love and wistfulness. “I Look To You” is about two people who look to each other for direction. But it could be about the way The Food Guy looks at me and says “You are my old friend. We’ve been together five years!” I have followed him around for five years and I’ve had five different homes. Maybe someday we can settle down!

“Lilac” is one of those songs that humans love to write, a song with sad words but music that will make you smile.  Featuring shimmering autoharp and layered harmonies, it proves that you don’t need a complicated arrangement to create a great song. You might even catch yourself moving your paws a bit.

My favorite song is “Tomorrow Night.” It is about the day that I knocked a lamp off the table while The Food Guy was at the office and broke the bulb and messed up the shade. And when he came home The Food Guy said “Don’t worry, kitten, we’ll fix it tomorrow.” Then he fed me.

eric + erica’s new single, “Side Pony” b/w “Blue Ribbon,” is available for download on Bandcamp.

Their previous releases, Wild Holiday, a three-song EP, This Is Where, a full-length 11-track album, and You Try, a four-song EP, can be accessed through eric + erica’s website.

Be sure to join eric + erica on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. And check out their tour schedule! They may be coming to a food bowl near you!