Candepop

Cat Doorman is Julianna Bright, and vice versa. She’s an Oregonian artist/mom/musician who’s collaborated with a bunch of American northwest indie rock heroes (including members of The Decemberists, Golden Bears, Black Prairie and Built to Spill) to make Songbook, a very charming folksy, old-timey album for children. Little Red Wagon is the first companion app to launch alongside the album, it’s developed by top toddler-catnip producers Night & Day Studios, and it’s very lovely indeed.

On launching the app, you’re dropped straight into Bright’s instantly appealing hand-painted world, where you choose whether you’d like a guitar, piano, or full band backing track. Then it’s right into the song adventure, where a girl in an orange dress gathers supplies – all dropped into the red wagon of the title – for a picnic in the forest. The dairy is run by a goat (the chèvre is recommended), the bakery by a cat: my weekly grocery shop now seems sadly mundane by comparison. 

The song itself is great, a blessed relief from the brain-mulching music found in most apps aimed at children, and appears in full notation at the bottom of the screen in case you’d like to play along. All the interaction cues necessary to progress are well signposted, but there are plenty of mischievous hidden surprises for curious tappers too. Trust me when I tell you: those pooping cows are going to be tapped A LOT.

This is another great app from Night & Day, with lashings of their customary attention to detail, plenty of charm and a lot of heart.