Newcastle-based alt-rock group, Cat Ryan released their single “Blessed Through the TV” last month. The track is an anomaly– a wonder-cluster of insightful lyricism in marriage with contemporary grittiness and Japanese orchestration.
The track’s lyrics focus on a one-foot-in, one-foot-out mentality. The group’s front-woman, Mary-Anne Murphy, spoke about the inspiration for the track– an angel figurine sent to her by her aunt– saying, “The Pope had done a mass blessing through the television, telling people to hold items up to the TV to be blessed. It didn’t quite make sense to me; it was almost a half-hearted blessing, and this sparked the ideas behind the song.”
Cat Ryan can be best described as neo-90s alternative rock. “Alternative” is somewhat of a broad term that often refers to music created outside of industry norms. Cat Ryan is alternative in the way that they’re able to capture and utilize experimental aspects of sound and fuse those findings together to create something out of the ordinary. This, in conjunction with well-rounded yet complex lyrical themes, is what sets this group apart. While sustaining independent ingenuity, the group draws inspiration from the likes of Wolf Alice and Vampire Weekend.
The creative brainchild of members Simon Tarbox, Lucas Rothwell, and Mary-Anne Murphy, Cat Ryan originated at Newcastle University. The group’s inception, as described by Murphy in an email to The Greater Good, was kismet: “Simon and I are studying the same course and were talking about music. He said he played guitar, but Lucas had already joined as lead guitarist – turned out that Simon also plays drums, so he became the drummer of Cat Ryan.”
According to the band’s manager, Jay Landman, “There are plans to compile both an EP and an album, but these are both in the development stages currently, so another single is most likely to be the next step.” For now, you can bless your ears with “Blessed Through the TV.”
