Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Cat Clyde is a singer-songwriter who takes the traditional sounds of blues and soul and puts a contemporary indie rock spin on them. On top of that, she also utilizes her truly powerful and evocative voice and potent lyricism to take this fresh musical blend to another level. Her hit 2016 single ‘Mama Said’ off her debut album Ivory Castanets reached over 7 million streams on Spotify alone, while in 2018 she embarked on a sold-out tour opening up for Shakey Graves. Her sophomore record, Hunters Trance, which was expected to drop last year, was released earlier this summer, and it sees Cat developing and expanding her sound while still retaining what made her approach special in the first place.
In this interview, Cat Clyde talks about her inspirations, the difficulties she faced while recording Hunters Trance, and more.
What inspired you to start making music?
I was always singing, and drawn towards music. It’s just always something that has attracted me and I’ve always followed that.
What other things beside music influence your songwriting?
My life inspires my songwriting, my experiences, people, places, landscapes, and weather. I’m open to inspiration wherever and however it comes.
Nature plays a big part in your songs. Can you talk a bit about your connection to the natural world?
I feel very connected to nature. I feel that I am very sensitive to my surroundings when I am in nature, and it fills me up like nothing else can. I feel very aware and awake when I am in nature and it’s very important for my well being to surround myself with the earth and connect to the earth so I can fill up my cup before going out and facing the world.
Was there a concept behind Hunters Trance?
There was not a concept behind Hunters Trance, I just kind of collect my songs as I go and when I feel I have what I need I lay everything out and put all the pieces in place.
How was the process of making the album? How did it compare to Ivory Castanets?
The process of making this record was really incredible and difficult. I started in February of 2018 where I rented a small cabin in the woods and built a little studio inside. I brought in a really awesome surf soul band from Toronto called Carlo, and we spent about a week recording there and it was really magical. After this I decided that I hadn’t quite got all the songs exactly where I wanted them, so I went to Bear Creek Studios and recorded there for about two weeks where I recorded with studio musicians, which I had never done before. After that, I still felt that I hadn’t gotten everything, so I went to my dear friend Jeremie’s country house, set up some gear and finished the album with him and my partner. Most of my last year was spent feeling extremely anxious and unsettled because I just wanted to complete the record, but everything had to feel just right. Making this record was very different compared to Ivory Castanets because it was done in one location, with all the same people, so there was a lot of consistency, and I felt that everyone involved had a similar vision so everything went very smoothly and easy. Though it was really difficult at times, I felt that I learned so much and looking back I wouldn’t change anything about the experience.
What is your favourite song to play from the album and why?
I’ve just started playing with a full band, so all the songs have a new life and energy to them which makes them all really exciting and fun to play. At this very moment, I would probably say “Bird Bone” though.
How is your tour going? Any memorable moments you’d like to share?
Tour just started in Eastern Quebec but so far so good! I have never been to that part of Canada before and was very astounded at how beautiful the area is and how welcoming and lovely the people I met were. We stayed up all night, had a bonfire and watched the sun come up over the ocean in Perce, which was a really wonderful experience.
Do you have any plans for the future?
I’ve got plans on plans on plans. I’ve been working heavily on some side projects as well as continuing to collect and write more songs for my next record. I’ve also been getting more into photography and videos and would like to keep working at those skills and utilize them to create more interesting and unique content.
Chance the Rapper, The Big Day: Chance the Rapper has dropped his long-awaited debut album, The Big Day, a follow-up to his independently-released mixtape Coloring Book in 2016. It was announced last week on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with the Chicago rapper explaining: “I haven’t sold my projects before. A lot of my projects were free. This is my debut album, so there’s a pre-order and I told Jimmy to pre-order my album. And he was like, ‘If you say the release date on my show.”
Violent Femmes, Hotel Last Resort: Following the band’s not-so-well-received comeback in 2016 with We Can Do Anything, which was their first studio album in 16 years, legendary acoustic-punk outfit Violent Femmes return once again with a new record titled Hotel Last Resort. The album includes the previously released title track featuring Television guitarist Tom Verlaine, covers of Greek band Pyx Lax’s ‘I’m Not Gonna Cry’ and Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America’, as well as a guest appearance from pro skateboarder Stefan Janoski. Bassist Brian Ritchie described the album as “probably the best one we’ve made since Hallowed Ground, which is a long time. It’s just a very focused album, the songs all hold together. It’s a classic album, in the sense that people should actually sit down and listen to the whole thing.”
Swain, Negative Space: Alternative rock band Swain follow up their acclaimed 2016 album The Long Dark Blue with Negative Space, out now via End Hits Records. The band (f.k.a. This Routine Is Hell) previously released the singles ‘Negative Space’ and ‘But Then What’. They explain via their Facebook page: “Recording this album has been a large step into a strange new direction for us. To be honest it’s pretty weird having recorded such a different album and then having to wait 6 months while hoping people are interested enough to keep following us in this journey.”
Lisel, Angels On the Slope: Lisel is the solo project of experimental producer and artist Eliza Bagg, known as half of the band Pavo Pavo. During the past few years, she’s collaborated with the likes of Helado Negro and Julianna Barwick, as well as working on her skills as a classical singer by performing in avant-garde operas. “My main instrument is my voice, not a keyboard or a guitar, so I wanted it to be the genesis of every song,” she explains. “I was trying to use the resources I had within me, within my body, to make something that feels true about the way we live our lives now, in 2019. That’s why I wanted to focus on my voice – I wanted each song to be literally made out of me.”
After the existential dread of 2013’s The Terror and the run-of-the-mill psych-pop of 2017’s Oczy Mlody, King’s Mouth is a welcome return to form for The Flaming Lips. Originally issued for Record Store Day this April as a limited run of 4,000 gold-colored vinyls, King’s Mouth sees the band embarking on the kind of eccentric, over-the-top, goofy psychedelic ride they became known for. Narrated by The Clash’s Mick Jones of all people, this concept album, a sort of accompaniment to frontman Wayne Coyne’s art exhibit and children’s storybook of the same name, tells the story of a king with a giant head who devours the whole universe. It’s not the most meaningful and profound narrative the band have conjured up, but it’s an endlessly enjoyable and engaging larger-than-life journey that doesn’t overstay it’s welcome at 41 minutes. From short, playful cuts like ‘Feedaloodum Beetle Dot’ to the tongue-in-cheek ‘Giant Baby’ or the memorable near-6-minute highlight ‘The Sparrow’ and the genuinely heartfelt closer ‘How Can A Head?’, this one’s definitely gonna go down as a late-career classic for the Lips.
Fans have been waiting seventeen long years for the release of The Lost Tapes 2, a sequel to the 2002 fan-favorite The Lost Tapes which compiled songs that did not make it into Nas’ albums. The follow-up to last year’s underwhelming, Kanye West-produced Nasir will most probably not disappoint those hardcore fans: it’s a whole hour of mostly consistent though not outstanding material. There is nothing on The Lost Tapes 2 that is outright terrible or even bad (except perhaps the awkward ‘Adult Film’ ft. Swizz Beats), but it’s safe to say it might test the patience of more casual fans, as Nas competently raps about familiar topics over serviceable beats (see ‘Lost Freestyle’ and opener ‘Bad Energy’). There are exceptions, like the surprisingly jazzy ‘Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack)’, a stand-out in the tracklisting if only for its unusual flow, or the more nostalgic ‘Queens Wolf’. For the most part, though, The Lost Tapes 2 is just okay.
It’s rare that a debut album is as fierce yet vulnerable as Ada Lea’s impressive what we say in private. Musically, the record sits somewhere between the righteous punk rock energy of Sleater-Kinney and the raw acoustic intimacy of Big Thief while still remaining an incredibly cohesive listen. But what takes this effort to another level is the fact that Ada Lea manages to inject even the most seemingly straightforward and infectious moments with wildly experimental left turns, like on the stunning ‘wild heart’ or the explosive ‘for real now (not pretend)’. The result of a 180-day period of intense introspection following a break-up, the album also lyrically explores deeply personal themes, like on the perfectly hushed ‘the party’ or the diary-like ‘180 days’, where she sings: “I want the days to go by/ Half the year to be precise/ I wanna spend all my time/ Keepin’ track of cycles of moon and sky/ Smash your head on the pavement/ Just to feel near to something new”. And then there’s the stand-out single ‘what makes me sad’, with its soul-crushing refrain and powerful instrumental, or the beautifully poetic ‘yanking the pearls off around my neck…’. For the sake of being somewhat optimistic, when all is said and done, there is hope for catharsis after all the pain and heartbreak.
Emotional Education‘s defining moment comes late on the album, on the penultimate track ‘Saddest Generation’: “One in four, one in four/ We must be the saddest generation/ Is there any hope for us all?/ One in four, one in four/ Where is the emotional education we’re all looking for?”. Like many other so-called smart-pop acts of our time, the duo IDER do their best on their debut album to capture the specific kind of generational melancholy that defines millennials, evoking the likes of Lorde and labelmates Chvrches. There’s not much that sonically separates them from such electropop outfits, except for the notable chemistry between Megan Markwick and Lily Somerville, but they definitely achieve what they’re going for conceptually. What’s more, the hooks on tracks like ‘Wu Baby’ and ‘Invincible’ are nothing if not memorable, while the duo’s soft side also shines on the album’s more laid-back moments, namely the hopeful ‘You’ve Got Your Whole Life Ahead of You Baby’ or the piano-led ‘Body Love’ that’s reminiscent of Ghost Stories-era Coldplay (I take that as a good thing, for the record) and might as well be the album’s most affecting moment. Though the album occasionally veers off into generic territory (‘Swim’), there is definitely potential here.
