Cat Dowling of Alphastates has died

Everyone at Hot Press is very sad this morning to hear of the death of Cat Dowling, solo artist and former lead singer and main songwriter with Alphastates.

"Cat worked with Hot Press in the commercial department way back," the magazine's editor Niall Stokes said, "so we always took a close interest in her work. The truth is that neither she nor Alphastates ever needed any special privileges or favouritism. The band were hugely original and imaginative – a fine outfit that really should have been afforded greater recognition both in Ireland and internationally. From a Hot Press point of view, Alphastates were among the most compelling outfits to emerge in Ireland during the noughties. There was a sense among the Hot Press crew that they should have been huge – and would have been if the cards had fallen just a little bit differently.

"Cat had a lovely, warm sort of appeal that suited the electro-pop vein that they operated in perfectly. She was a wonderful singer and front-woman. And the band – one always suspected with Cat to the fore – wrote really good, carefully crafted songs."

Alphastates – Gerry Horan (guitar and keyboards), Stevie Kavanagh (bass and keyboards) and Graham Gilligan (drums) completed the line-up – released Made From Sand in 2004 and Human Nature in 2009. They split in 2010, but returned to sporadic action later. At least we have two albums to remember them by...

More recently, Cat had been working as a solo artist, keeping the indie flag flying. She released two albums – The Believer in 2013 and Animals in 2021, the latter on FIFA Records.

"Cat developed her style even more individually and personally as a solo artist," Stokes added, "carving out an aesthetic and appeal that was all her own. She was a lovely person, and a hugely original musician. She will be greatly missed."

Cat had a number of significant successes as a solo artist, with tracks being used in films and TV soundtracks, including 'The Believer' in Banshee and The Witches of East End; and 'Somebody Else' in My Name Is Emily.

Over the years, she had been compared variously to Liz Frazer, Beth Gibbons, Karen O, Amanda Palmer, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Feist and Kristen Hersh – all marvellously distinctive artists who have that element of darkness that made Dowling's work so intriguing.

Cat had spoken about being diagnosed with breast cancer, an illness which greatly disrupted her career – but she showed trenendous dignity in the way she handled it.

She had three children.

"It's the longest day with the greatest amount of light," Cat wrote on her Facebook page on June 21 this year. "Light always overcomes darkness, no matter how dark this world gets painted at times. Let's keep shining and spreading our light. I have so much new material and I really hope I can get to record it this year. Art conquers the divide. We need more coming together. Always keep her lit my friend."

Those words read even more poignantly today. Our hearts go out to her family, her friends, her fellow musicians – and especially her children.