New Album: “Down Rounder” – Cat Clyde
On Cat Clyde’s new album Down Rounder, the Canadian indie-folk artist follows up the wonderful Hunters Trance with a fantastic collection of songs that will likely find her an even larger audience. Work on the record originally began in 2020 in her Quebec home studio and was planned to be self-produced with her partner Strummer Jasson. However, due to problems with their residence, the plans fell apart. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise as this resulted in producer Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Public Image Ltd.) getting onboard. As the pair went through the finished material, they stripped back the songs once more, carefully digging into the details of everything. “I really learned a lot and enjoyed the experience,” Clyde recalls. “He gave me a lot of new tools and inspiration to connect more deeply to my songwriting and guitar playing.”
From the folk-country opener “Everywhere I Go” and lead single “Mystic Light” to the rocking “Papa Took My Totem”, Down Rounder takes you on a musical journey and sounds like the work of someone who’s found themselves artistically and holistically. The highlight is the haunting piano ballad “I Feel It” with lyrics addressing the feeling of overstimulation and being emotionally overwhelmed – “Every time i cry, you know it cleans me. Like rain comin’ down from the sky, oh, release me”. It’s an incredible song and also marks the first time Clyde has played piano on a recording.
The album is an exploration and expression of self, patterns in the natural and unnatural world, connecting to nature, the turning wheel of life, shedding old selves, embracing new selves, and the ever changing, expanding and contracting nature of love and life
Cat Clyde
Down Rounder is Cat Clyde’s first proper solo album since 2019’s spellbinding Hunters Trance, but she’s also been plenty busy between now and then. In 2020, she released Good Bones, a set of acoustic reimagining from Hunters Trance as well as her 2017 debut Ivory Castanets; last year, Clyde joined up with fellow Canadian country singer-songwriter Jeremie Albino for the stellar collab LP Blue Blue Blue. She’s also racked up millions of streams across multiple platforms and has been featured on over 40 Spotify editorial playlists, setting the stage for Down Rounder as her widest-reaching album yet.
She will join Lissie on a UK tour and open for Bonny Light Horseman at Celtic Connections in February 2023 as well as appearing at Winnipeg Folk Fest in July. You can find out more about Cat Clyde at her website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news and concert dates.
