Cat Dowling
Dublin, Leinster, Ireland | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | SELF
Music
Press
Check out the Well Runs Dry now, a stonker of a single that brings to mind Amanda Palmer and Beth Gibbons. - Hot Press
As a strong and vibrant female voice who can convey great emotion and depth without ever finding herself mired in the pink, Cat’s always sounded best when set to bold and rich sounds which emphasise the best she has to offer. Taken from her solo debut album The Believer (due for release January 2013) this track above is the new single Cruel, a quirky tinge of mournful poppiness that seethes with energy from both the instrumental and vocal spectrums. It’s quite a stark contrast to her previous single The Well Runs Dry which was touted akin to Beach House and indeed, a Victoria LeGrand comparison would not be out of place.
- www.harmlessnoise.ie
Cat Dowling performed a very nice, stripped down acoustic set at the Love Music Hate Racism tent on Sunday. It was my first time hearing her, and I was impressed by the genuine feeling of the performance, as well as the natural and distinctive character of her voice. I was also pleasantly surprised when I listened to her recorded material later to find that the production and instrumentation etc really complimented her voice and songs. - Wearenoise.com
Cat Dowling, after seeing her name on the bill for both Electric Picnic and Hard Working Class Heroes there’s a bit of a buzz surrounding her at the moment and rightly so. A stripped down and bare sound, Dowling reminds me of Portishead with her sultry raspy tones. - Stylesiren.ie
Cat Dowling was up first with her beautiful voice and breezy, Celtic sounds. The previous Alphastates front woman has returned this year with a gorgeous solo album. In an uplifting and fully captivating performance, she played her current single ‘The Well Runs Dry’. Brimming with charisma and with lingering spine-tingling vocals, it’s hard to take your eyes off her. She also sang the lively ‘The Believer’ and haunting ‘Gospel Song’ in a performance was full of energy and passion, backed up by her brilliant band. - www.ramp.ie
Billed as a stripped down affair of funeral pop, the debut album from ex alphastates vocalist Cat Dowling promises something very special indeed, if single ‘Cruel’ is anything to go by. Echoing indie queen of cool St. Vincent and that Dido album that sold 12 million copies in equal measures, it’s a bassy, string-led anti-love song that effortlessly fuses instrumental theatrics with Dowling’s sweetly understated vocal. - Hot Press
Discography
The Well Runs Dry - Single (June 22 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM90l3US8RE
Cruel - Single (Hot Press Track of the Fortnight) (October 26 2012)
http://www.hotpress.com/Cat-Dowling/music/reviews/tracks/Cruel/9311984.html?new_layout=1
The Believer - (Can Do Records) (Released in Ireland on 10th May)
Photos
Bio
SUNDAY BUSINESS POST (4/5)*** Biography***
Remarkable-voiced Cat Dowling's solo debut considerably exceeds expectations and previous endeavours, delivering an impressive collection of slow-burning melancholic indie rock. Anybody partial to a bit of PJ Harvey will find something to like here.
SUNDAY TIMES (THE WEEK'S ESSENTIAL NEW RELEASES)
Its two years since Cat Dowling decided to go solo - and what an end result. On the Believer, she expertly weaves her way through a set that includes dreamy renditions and melodic statements with attitude. It is her incredible vocals that resonate. When mercurial, she is reminiscent of the gutsy Karen O. When the pace slows, the respectful tone evokes Kristin Hersh. Key songs include The Well Runs Dry, a competent and infectious number, while the title track is drenched in wistfulness. Sing you to Sleep with its cabaret undertones is a lullaby of loveliness and provides the perfect closer for the album. _
METRO HERALD (4/5)
The strongest collection of her career, a record that is sensitive and dewy eyed when it needs to be, powerfully strident where a little oomph is required. Mostly its just Dowling on piano or guitar but she is no wilting chanteuse: there are joyous overtones of Yeah Yeah Yeah's on the title track; the jangling Cruel and the chain-clanking Well Runs Dry have the Gothic urgency of early Cat Power. She has
exceeded expectation with an LP throbbing with anger and ennui.
RTE TEN (4/5)
An inventive approach to already well-aerated matters of the heart on her excellent debut album. Grainy textures are shot through burnished, knotty songs played on harmonium, cello and viola and clearly Dowling is trying to untangle her emotions on the likes of the vaguely pyschedelic Turn and The Rules, which has a light bounce and a lovely Summer shuffle. The Kilkenny-born singer is made of sterner stuff on Someone Else which has the teeth-grinding ferocity of early PJ Harvey while elsewhere she's in vaudevillian Regina Spektor/Julia Feeney territory.
The Believer is that kind of album - full of twists, abrupt swerves and quirks. This is a supremely confident debut from an artist with a lot to say and plenty of bewitching ways to say it.
MAIL ON SUNDAY (4/5)
Cat Dowling always had the air of someone worth keeping tabs on. Like Beth Orton she mixes a folk sensibility with electronica on Turn and The Rules. She isn't afraid to appropriate a Joy Division drum beat to propel the towering Somebody Else. The single Come On is a darker animal which slinks up on the senses nodding to Cat Power and
Portishead. Cat is truly a talent we can now believe in now.
HOT PRESS (8/10)
Stunning solo debut. Her voice is an incredible instrument, somehow combining the lilt of Portishead's Beth Gibbons and the sneer of a young Polly Harvey, as she shifts gears and genres with equal panache, from the exquisite orchestral pop of 'Cruel', through the dark energy of 'Somebody Else', the pastoral 'The Rules' and on to the Sigur Ros-majesty of 'The Well Runs Dry' and the waltzing lullaby of 'Sing you to Sleep', which closes things with a warm glow. The sexiest voice in Irish music is back and The Believer is the best thing she's ever done.
IRISH TIMES (3/5)
Striking out on her own was a good move for Cat Dowling. The Kilkenny woman's solo debut is probably the best thing she's ever done because she sounds more comfortable unshackled by the limitations of electronic pop. These songs are more organic and consequently warmer, Dowling's evocative, breathy vocals gliding across acoustic pop and
seductive piano motifs with a natural grace. Dowling's influences aren't so easy to pinpoint.. Cat has found her voice with his impressive debut.
NIALLER 9
http://nialler9.com/album-premiere-cat-dowling-the-believer/
HARMLESS NOISE
http://harmlessnoise.ie/2013/05/album-cat-dowling/
THE JOURNALIST
http://thejournalist.ie/entertainment/review-cat-dowling-the-believer/
Cat Dowling writes beautifully dark pop songs. Her voice has been lauded as one of the most wonderful and evocative in Irish contemporary music. Her husky and achingly intimate vocals will draw you in from the outset.
The acclaimed Irish singer, songwriter and performer previously fronted Babelfish and Alphastates.
Dowling grew up in a conventional household though music was always playing and she was exposed to the Kinks, ACDC, The Rolling Stones, The Jam and the Beatles from an early age. She learnt piano as a child, performed in school musicals and choir groups throughout her youth, and began teaching herself to play guitar and write poetry as a teenager. "I became addicted to the freedom singing gave me" she says. When I sang as a kid, my mind felt empty, a voice came from nowhere and people always stopped and listened up.
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