Cat Ryan’s Irish influences stand out from the very start. Named for frontwoman and songwriter Mary-Anne Murphy’s middle name and the maiden name of her mother (of Irish extraction), the band were a solo project until Murphy moved to Newcastle for university, where she only recently finished studying architecture. Her music, an imaginative kind of art rock that plays on Murphy’s multi-instrumentalism, feels like it’s on the brink of a major breakthrough.
“Since I was about eight I’ve been doing Irish music at school, though I’m from London. My mum’s from Cork, and I lived in a big Irish community. I started with tin whistle, then the banjo, then I was part of a competitive Irish music group,” Murphy recalls of her early musical dabbling.
“The banjo is my main instrument apart from guitar, and I really like traditional music. I think it’s really come into my music with strong melodies and these kind of reels. It’s indie with a traditional twang.”
Nonetheless, her current guise and its Irish connections are almost accidental. “It wasn’t originally a nod to my heritage, but it feels like that now,” she says. “It’s not the reason I chose the name, but it works. I sometimes get called Cat, which I don’t really mind, as it’s kind of a stage name.”
Cat Ryan’s EP is a product, in fact, of years of honing what the act’s sound would be. “It started when I was about 17, and I’ve released some of the tracks before,” Murphy says. “I reworked some music, and added a new song, ‘Rex Mundi’. I kind of started again, but kept all of the music as it was, but with layers, and more professional recording. We got it mixed properly by a producer rather than my demo versions, too.”
The way that the band functions has also changed over the years. “Only very recently I stopped just writing everything on my own. Recently we did a residency at the Glass House in Newcastle. I worked on a new song I’d written with Dan, so it’s becoming more collaborative now. I bring partly written songs, and Dan’s really talented so he helps me figure out some bits. It’s kind of my project, but with the help of the band.”
“Until now I’ve recorded everything at home, to try and keep control of everything and work on it at my own rate,” Murphy says of the distinctly DIY aesthetic the band have.
“We have a project for next year, hopefully an album, and I’m saving up so we can go into the studio and fully record and play there. There are about four songs beyond the EP that are ready. We’re going to do an hour set in Dublin, which will be the longest we’ve done.”
While marking Cat Ryan’s only international date on the current tour, the trip to Dublin will also have those firm elements of homecoming.
“I’ve got quite a few relatives coming up from Cork to see us, so I’ve got put on a good show. Live, it can be quite different. We do some different versions live, like ‘Blessed Though The TV’, which is quite synthy, and we make it more of a guitar song, and similar with ‘Mannerism’. We’ve come up with a version that works for four people. A lot of my songs have five parts, so we have to adapt. But they’re still quite similar. Ideally I’d have a fifth person to fill in those roles.”
“I do envision this five-piece band having better equipment, and I want to have backing tracks, so we can have the full effect on stage,” Murphy explains. “Those missing bits, I’d like to include them. It’s not fully where I envisage things at the moment, but I’m going along with it. It’s not our full time job, so we don’t have as much time to practise as a full time band would.”
“I graduated in July, after finishing my Masters. All our tour is Fridays and Saturdays, I’d like to at least be able to only work part time at some point.”
That growing up comes with a slight change to the lyrical direction, too. “I’m trying to have more of a message in my songs these days. ‘Rex Mundy’ is going down a more political route, exploring certain things and issues. Declan McKenna, who has quite ambiguous lyrics, I take inspiration from. I don’t like to speak directly.”
“Our Spotify has become a lot more popular, we have a lot more listeners and it’s cool seeing the different cities they’re listening in. It felt like our two major festival slots last summer helped a lot. We played the main stage at Y Not, which was great. Quite a few people came to see us, and I saw people adding us to their playlists for the festival, which was really nice.”
“There is some stress around the touring, because I organise everything myself. I’m printing t-shirts, posting on socials... it’s stressful but once we start it’s just shows and I don’t have to worry about other things.”
“We’re completely independent. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I have to have everything how I want it. I want to do as much as I can to get us out there.”
Cat Ryan play The Sound House, Dublin on October 5th. Tickets €17.45 here.