Cat Ryan are soon to grace the stage of The Sound House Dublin and before they do Alan Robinson got to have a sit down and chat with singer and multi-instrumentalist Mary-Anne Murphy.
Read below what they had to chat about.
Alan: With the upcoming tour in mind, are there any moments that stand out to you from previous shows?
Mary-Anne: God, there’s been so many! I really liked Truck festival. We played on one of the smaller stages, but, the tent was packed out and there were quite a few people singing the songs, and I checked Spotify as well, and people had added us to their playlist like specifically to come see us. So that was really nice, like, we had a lot more people there than we thought. And yeah, people seemed to really like it.
Alan: Do you have any pre show rituals or routines that you like to go through?
Mary-Anne: We don’t at the moment. But we recently did residency, and they sort of taught us, like breathing exercises and things you can do before shows. So at our last show we were doing star jumps and stretches, and just doing some random stuff to like calm us down before the show.
Alan: Do you think it helped?
Mary-Anne: I don’t know haha I think It was the same.
Alan: For people who have tickets to the Dublin tour date already or who are thinking about coming to the show, what can they expect from the performance?
Mary-Anne: It’s gonna be different to other shows. It’s very upbeat, like, melodic indie music that you can really dance to and very sort of Summery, happy vibes that most people would enjoy if they like the music, I think. And yeah, we’re gonna have a range of songs so not every song’s going to sound the same. We’re planning something special too like a special cover that we haven’t revealed yet. But yeah, it’s gonna be a special one compared to others. We’re gonna do something different.
Alan: That sounds really exciting. You’re kicking off the tour in Leeds next week. How are the band feeling?
Mary-Anne: Yeah. Leeds is the 1st show of our tour next Friday. We played there once before and we’ve got a really good lineup for this one. There’s four bands, so lots of music to see. I’m really excited for that ’cause we’re also playing with Low Girl, who are one of our favorite bands. They’re from down south, and they’re also supporting us in Newcastle as well. They’re like alt-pop, Indie kind of stuff.
Alan: I’ve been listening to the King Of the World EP recently and a lot of the tracks on it touch on personal themes like growth, identity and love. Do you find writing about themes like those helps you to better understand your emotions?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, I think I write more in retrospect. So when I write it’s not to help myself. It’s sort of more just like telling something that happened. Or sometimes it’s actually just a story that I’ve crafted rather than my reality as well. But sometimes, in the moment I’ll note something down, but it’s never usually like a form of therapy or anything for me. It’s just more like writing in retrospect.
Alan: Do you ever feel some sort of vulnerability performing those songs when the themes touch on personal aspects of your life?
Mary-Anne: I think most of the time not, because I wrote most of the songs when I was about 17, and I’m 24 now, so I don’t connect with them as much. But there are some like “Daydream”, I think that has quite vulnerable lyrics, so singing that sometimes I have like a moment where I’m like, oh, this is actually quite personal, but then it hits and I switch back out of it.
I just have a little moment. Yeah.
Alan: I was reading that “Rex Mundi” is one of your favorite tracks to perform live. What makes that stand out for you where you’re performing?
Mary-Anne: Well, I get to play the keyboard for one ha. It’s the only song I get to play the keys. And it’s just yeah, it’s just really fast and like upbeat. And I feel like it gets people going. At our headline show in Newcastle in November we played that and there was like this group of like 5 people who’d made their own Rex Mundi T-shirts, and they were at the front, and they were like going mental for it. That was probably one of our favorite moments actually.
Alan: The song “Lost My Connection” is my favorite track from the EP. It seems to address breakdowns of long distance relationships in the digital age. How do you think modern forms of communication influence the way we experience love and loss these days?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, it’s good for keeping relationships but then when they end, it’s like you can’t get away from it, because it’s just there. It’s just great for communication in long distances and being able to maintain something but it can also make it difficult. Like technology can’t really replace a relationship. We still need that physical connection. It can sort of help but not replace it.
Alan: There’s a a line at the end of the track that says “hyperspace just ain’t my place”, and I feel that that line is alluding to you rathering a physical connection.
Mary-Anne: Yes. Yeah, it’s like saying….to be honest, I wrote them so long ago. I can’t exactly remember, but it’s like trying to say that that place isn’t where I think I can have a relationship. Technology isn’t for me, it has to be done in person or it’s not gonna last.
Alan: As you’ve mentioned, a lot of the tracks were written when you were younger. How does it feel when you go back to revisit or rework older material. Creatively, do you see a difference?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, I do see a difference. I think at the start I was very influenced by, like Viola Beach and that sort of happy melody stuff and a lot of those songs. “Lost My Connection” has this very clean guitar, upbeat melody, sort of thing, and I still have that element. That was what defined my sound at the start, and where I discovered my sound. Moving along, I experimented a lot more with like different sounds like with synths and different instruments, but it still has that Cat Ryan essence of the melody, which I think is probably the key to most of my songs.
Alan: You have so many different sounds on the EP and through your discography. How do you approach experimenting with new sounds, but also keeping that sound of the Cat Ryan band that you already have?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, I always focus on writing a melody that really stands out. So I think that is the key to each song. It can be on a synth or guitar, and it still defines the sound. It just sort of comes naturally. I think, because it’s me and I just write the music that I want to write it just naturally comes out as my sound.
Alan: When you revisit the older material, do you find the meanings of the songs have changed for you?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, “Like this” for example, that’s not on the EP, but that one I wrote when I was like 17, it was about someone I liked. But now I actually think it relates to a lot more in a different way. The meaning of it has like changed for me. Some lyrics meant something then. But now they mean something else now.
Alan: With the meanings sometimes changing, do you ever want to go back and change different aspects of the track?
Mary-Anne: To be honest, I’ve not really thought about that. I think with those old songs that I reworked, I just added layers, but kept it the same. It was just more like improving it like, sonically.
Alan: You’ve been fortunate enough to play festivals as well as smaller shows, what is the difference between the two when you’re performing, do you get nervous doing one, and feel calmer, doing the other?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, I think surprisingly when we played the main stage at the Why Not? festival I felt very calm. Probably calmer than a hometown headline show, probably because I don’t really know anyone. In Newcastle, it’s more pressure, like there is people I know and you have to plan this special set, whereas at Why Not? no one’s heard of you before. You can do anything.
Alan: I was looking at your your social media this week and you seem to already have a strong following. I saw one person make a post on Reddit, asking if anyone else had tickets to one of your shows and would like to go along with them.
Mary-Anne: On Reddit?
Alan: Yeah.
Mary-Anne: Oh really? I hadn’t seen that!
Alan: Why do you think your music resonates so well with fans?
Mary-Anne: I don’t know, you know. They probably like similar bands, I’d say, like Bombay Bicycle Club. And that kind of sound. I feel like it’s dying out maybe a bit now. It’s moved on to something else like more like a synthy, lo-fi sound. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like our sound is like a revival of that early 2000’s sound, but it’s something new. It’s like nostalgic, but refreshed.
Alan: Is there any music you’re listening to personally at the moment that you think influences your writing or your work?
Mary-Anne: At the moment I haven’t been writing for a few weeks, but there’s definitely some music I’m listening to that I can see could influence my writing. I’m listening to “Witches” by Alice Phoebe Lou and she’s very like very strong synths, and like this kind of Eighties synthy sounds, and that sort of thing is something I’d want to incorporate. I really liked Charli XCX this Summer. But I don’t know about how I’d incorporate that haha.
Alan: You’ve already achieved so much in your career, and as we’ve touched on you have the tour to look forward to also. So, looking forward to the end of the year, is there any goals you want to achieve? And also looking at the next year, what does the future look like for the Cat Ryan band?
Mary-Anne: Yeah, I think the aim with the tour is to solidify our position in more places and gain a few more fans. Then we’re going to be releasing a single later this year so then, hopefully, that reaches more people. We want to have the groundwork for what is going to be hopefully an album next year, like late 2025.I think just setting that groundwork so that the album can do well.
Alan: Perfect. That’s all for this interview Mary-Anne. Thank you!
Mary-Anne: Thank you very much! I’m gonna have to check out the reddit thing.
Alan: No, definitely. I think the person found someone to go with as well, which is even better.
Mary-Anne: Oh, great!
Tickets to Cat Ryan at The Sound House Dublin here: https://mcd.ie/artists/cat-ryan
Words – Alan Robinson @alan_robinson_photography
Photo credit – Will Copely