Cate Ferris

Multi-instrumentalist Cate Ferris has utterly charmed me with her latest single ‘Contortula’. Cate plays and arranges all kinds of sounds and synths together to create a one-woman musical blender that will appeal to many types of music lovers. You can enjoy her from a technical looping standpoint like your Juana Molina’s and Tune-Yards or you can enjoy her from an electronic singer-songwriter standpoint like Hannah Peel. It is the mixture of technology and well crafted soulful melodies that pulled me in. - Higher Plain Music

Cate Ferris has returned with her new track, 'Contortula' and we're excited to bring you a video of her performing the track live.

We were big fans of Cate's last track 'Gyroscope' and said at the time "We Haven’t heard anything quite like Gyroscope!" - and it's a sentiment we can repeat for 'Contortula'. - The Digital Fix

We've got something special for you this morning - the brilliant new track 'Gyroscope' from Cate Ferris.
Taken from her upcoming album of the same name, 'Gyroscope' is a curious and brilliant mix of Cate's melismatic vocals and electronic timbres, textures and rhythms - we haven't heard anything quite like it and that's a great thing.

Cate Ferris says of the track "Gyroscope is about clinging to love in the middle of the madness and trying to find a sense of balance when life throws a billion curve-balls. It was recorded in my studio at home using samples from the inside workings of a broken gramophone and sounds from my collection of old keyboards. These were then combined with beautiful viola/violin layers, glorious synth lines and multiple vocal takes contained within a velvet-lined alcove"

Taking inspiration from W.B. Yeat’s poem ‘The Second Coming’, Cate’s compositions throughout the new album are based on the idea that a human brain although expansive in intelligence, is essentially unfit to contain so much emotional information. It was the particular piece of prose: “Things fall apart: The Centre Cannot Hold. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”, she drew the expression from, as it became frighteningly relevant inside of her own experiences and indeed on a more global stage.

The album is set for release in 2020 - at a date to be confirmed - but it's already risen to the top of our most anticipated albums of the next year. - The Digital Fix

Eclectic, bold and inventive, Ferris is one to watch
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS

Brighton-based Cate Ferris is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and all-round music legend who has been captivating audiences over the past four years.

Immersing herself in the eclectic Brighton music scene, Cate has stepped out of her comfort zone and experimented fearlessly in order to create her first album, set for release next year.

Her fluid vocals are paired with electronic rhythms to create a unique sound that is unmistakably hers. Gyroscope is the first offering from the album and it’s already well and truly stuck in our heads.

Influenced by the relatable human experience of becoming overwhelmed and attempting to control your emotions, Gyroscope’s a soft and tender song:

“You are my gyroscope, you bring me equilibrium.”

The intense electronic sounds paired with violin strings bring an intensity to the track – and the music video is perfectly in-keeping with that vibe.

“Gyroscope is about clinging to love in the middle of the madness and trying to find a sense of balance when life throws a billion curve-balls,” explains Ferris.

“It was recorded in my studio at home using samples from the inside workings of a broken gramophone and sounds from my collection of old keyboards.

“These were then combined with beautiful viola [and] violin layers, glorious synth lines and multiple vocal takes contained within a velvet-line alcove.”

A creative queen? We think so. - DIVA

“When I first met Cate Ferris, I was a bit terrified of just how talented she is. With her EP, I produced it, but I didn’t really, it was Cate just playing around in the studio and me giving her the space to play around and just capturing her because she’s so full of energy and musically talented. I’d seen of her is doing stuff with the loop pedal on YouTube, so I got in touch with her and asked if she wanted to talk about working with me.

She’s got an amazing voice and she’s a good songwriter, and she’s doing great things and working with great people. For the EP she wanted to experiment with more different things in the studio and get away from the whole loop pedal thing.

She’s a lot like me, she’s quite a control freak musically. I’m not so much musically, but I am with projects, or giving a sound to something and I like giving a sound and working on the artwork even, for things and stuff like that. I like getting involved, whereas Cate’s a little bit of a genius. - Brighton Music Blog

As a reader of Brighton Noise, you probably enjoy nothing more than spending your nights out across the city seeking the best sounds to consume. If that’s the case, then you may already be familiar with the work of singer-songwriter Cate Ferris. Having gigged across her hometown’s musical hot spots such as The Blind Tiger, The Brunswick and Latest Music Bar (to name just a few), Ferris’ voice has already made its mark in the lives of many local live music lovers. Now, after years of winning over crowds with her soothing voice, she finally releases her first solo studio EP.

Produced by Tim Bidwell (Kate Walsh, Peggy Sue) and independently released via Bandcamp and physically available on CD also, ‘deep breath ready get set GO!’ boasts four whimsical songs which will warm your heart. Opening with the slow and relaxing ‘Leave A Light On‘, the EP begins with a wistful vibe before building up into the more uptempo ‘Trapeze‘ which concurs up playful circus imagery. ‘Condensation‘ then challenges listeners’ expectations by combining both the sedate and the chaotic; beginning somewhat somber, the song soon transforms into a faster-paced score peppered with nods to jazz and surprisingly transgresses into the ethereal for a brief moment. Somehow however, Ferris manages to hybrid the atmospheres with ease without ever sounding confused or directionless. Closing the debut is ‘Doll On The Music Box‘ which showcases Ferris incorporating a güiro, a triangle and music from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to create a mature lullaby that maintains the innocence of childhood.

Throughout the four-track release, Ferris continues to impress with her all-round musicianship but there’s no doubt that the finest instrument that she has mastered is her voice – often haunting, undeniably charming and always enjoyable. - Brighton Noise

"Fell in love" - BBC

“like a pre-electric White Stripes (but only with Joni Mitchell singing)” - Buckle Up

"Biting songs that will make everyone sit up and listen" - Acoustic Sussex

"Biting songs that will make everyone sit up and listen" - Acoustic Sussex

"all the Joni Mitchell meets Radiohead comparisons, whilst understandable, don't actually do justice to her craft. Cate Ferris's evocative word paintings demand attention in their own right; add to that her imaginative atmospherics, compelling harmonic ideas and the fact that it's all delivered with haunting, goose bumps on the neck, vocals...well... it all serves to create something truly extraordinary. Frankly, this is magnificent stuff" - Red FM

"An understated collection of sweetly sung loveliness" - Brighton Source Magazine

"It's astonishing how she can make such atmospheric songs ... [Cate's] crystalline voice is sweet, clear and heartfelt in every syllable uttered" - Bad Robot

Brighton-based independent artist Cate Ferris wraps rich musical textures and percussive flavours around inspired vocal depth and soul with new single, Keep Going.

Built in an ever-shifting collage of contrasting and lovingly crafted loops and stanzas, Keep Going ebbs and flows like landscape; subject only to the natural evolution of the changing seasons; at once, both compellingly complex and, at the same time, reassuringly natural. The instrumentation is keenly rhythmic, each riff and phrase adding dab, snap, and swipe of percussive energy to the bubbling melting pot of composition.

Cate Ferris’ vocals walk tall, working the beat quietly and at a distance; melodies tumble and rise, as cliff and hill. Inspired use of vocal double, harmony, hook, phrase, and scat add wondrous movement and depth to the production.

Seemingly without contrivance or compromise, Cate Ferris has crafted a direct creative experience from inception to listener. Keep Going arrives at your ears unhindered and uninhibited, making for a singular and quite simply beautiful musical journey. - Fresh On The Net

Keep Going is this rather beautiful slice of perfect (synth)pop, with popping guitars and tumbling synths intermingling with electronic ticks and dots, (lovely) vocal harmonies and this bassline that almost turns you inside out at times. Keep going people - Backseat Mafia

Head for a Lo-fi pop bedroom with the English Cate Ferris and her new track "Fracture".

What you can say is that her voice is magnificent and fits perfectly with the accompanying guitar. The instrument-voice duo works wonderfully and reveals the singer's fleeing emotions.

This world is far too incomprehensible for a pure soul like his who tries to survive in the social flow is sentimental.

Where are the limits ? It is only by crossing them that we realize our own barriers and those that we would like to put on others.

The message is strong and the sound is trippy, without forgetting the timbre of the voice which sublimates the instrumental of a vocal dress. Electro, Lo-fi Pop and Bedroom intertwine to create this unique sound.

Who hasn't fallen already, the important thing is how you get up to the next chapter ... - Iggy Magazine