Hot Press meets Cat Dowling

“I would never tell people what my songs are about,” Cat Dowling says, “because I think you ruin it. It’s almost like giving away the ending of a film. You should have your own experience and, like anything you read or hear, you can take what you need from it.”

What I’ve taken from The Believer, Dowling’s first solo album since the amicable break-up of electro-pop foursome Alphastates, is a whole lot of hope, cleverly hidden under song titles like ‘Cruel’ and ‘The Well Runs Dry’.
“There is a hopefulness,” she acknowledges, “and there’s a strength underneath it. It’s a little bit more personal than anything I’ve ever written in the sense that I’ve divulged, but I always like to write in a way that gives freedom to listeners to take what they want. I like it to be almost like a blanket that you can wrap yourself in.”
Still, through captivating melodies, dark, instrumental wig-outs and dreamy, understated vocals, The Believer does tell a story.
“I suppose it’s the whole thing of saving the innocent side,” Dowling muses. “Life becomes very linear and very logical and it’s – how do I explain it? – it’s the child in everyone. The essence is just to hold onto that frivolous side. I used a third party, the believer, because everyone has that part in them. It sometimes just gets obscured when people take on big jobs or big careers or do what they think they’re meant to be doing.”
Given that Dowling has been releasing music for over a decade, it surprises me that it’s taken her this long to get these ideas down on wax.
“I would have been very shy,” she explains. “I have four brothers and I remember as a kid we’d have sessions and I’d always get the one token song for the girl, so in the back of my head I suppose I thought, ‘People just want loud guitars.’”
With The Believer about to reach shelves, Dowling is on something of a creative roll, having already started work on her next album.
“Without sounding arrogant, I’m on fire with music,” she tells me. “It’s just pouring out. I don’t have to write to please, trying to think, ‘Oh, will they like this song?’ I’m writing what I like.”