Dublin-based Kilkenny-born indie pop artist Cat Dowling has today released her new single Animals, and has announced that her new 11-track long-player, to be released via Forever In Financial Arrears Records (FIFA Records) on November 12th, will also be called ‘Animals’.

Animals follows two singles; Freedom, a lush slice of soulful pop for which Dowling worked with film-maker Alba Lahoz, featuring her three free-spirited children doing their thing on the beach. The video for the earlier single, Trouble, made by BAFTA award-winning director Fergal Costello, tells the story of a dark, comedic and violent tale set outside of 1981 Belfast.

“I wrote Animals during a busy period of my life when to find those rare moments to write music meant I had to be a thief elsewhere. But it was these stolen moments that gave me oxygen and a beautiful almost supernatural energy,” says Cat Dowling.

‘Animals’ was written when everyone was sleeping. It started with the driving repetitive rhythm which had to be restrained so as not to wake a soul. It thus became hypnotic.  It starts as minor and ends up major. It’s about the major and minor of life and of love and the constant pull in everything between major and minor and the light and the dark. It’s a song ultimately of passion, wildness, sensuality and love.”

Produced by Gerry Horan with Dowling as co-producer, and mixed by Ger McDonnell (The Cure, U2, Van Morrison, Martha Wainwright, Shane McGowan, Sinead O’Connor), Dowling’s partially recorded her most recent work at Crossroads Studio, Kilkenny with support from Ireland’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.

Since the release of her debut album ‘The Believer’, Dowling has been lauded by the music press as one of the most evocative vocalists in Irish contemporary music, due to her beautifully dark pop songs and husky, achingly intimate vocals.

Animals is out now everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. The full ‘Animals’ album will be released digitally, as well as on CD and limited-edition cassette.