Diandra Interviews Cat Clyde: Music Is A Hunter’s Trance
Releasing Hunter’s Trance on June 14, Cat Clyde newest record shows that “folk music” is meditative. It is not simply about detailing the stories of the human spirit, but enlightening them so that listeners can feel and wisdom in better living. Cat Clyde uses picturesque lyrics, winding chords, and her misting vocals to make a song feel like a forest of emotions. Hence, it is no surprise that in our interview she discusses her love for nature and how her sound has grown.
Diandra: How do you feel your artist/ alter ego emboldens and explores who you are as a person? What specific qualities, about you, does Cat Clyde show?
Cat Clyde: I feel that I have been a shy/fearful person in the past, but have always known I had a lot to give. Through music I have really opened up and am beginning to feel much more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I find that I love to show my love for nature, as that is something I draw a lot of inspiration, from and it is very important to my mental health. I also find it difficult to share too much about how I feel and my personal life because revealing too much feels as though I’m cheapening my own experience.
Cat Clyde “All The Black” (Official Music Video)
Diandra: “All The Black” explores themes of darkness. What is one moment when music seemingly elevated you from a dark spot to a lighter one?
Cat Clyde: I think that music can always take me from dark place to a lighter one. When I’m feeling real low, I like to wallow in it for awhile, but I feel that it’s necessary to find my footing and climb out of the hole I’m in. I’ll listen to sad music and the song will help me to release what I’m feeling like dirty water from a tub. Then, I can come out clean and new and start the process all over again.
Diandra: What was the inspiration behind your new album’s title Hunter’s Trance?
Cat Clyde: Nature is where I feel the most comfortable and the most myself. I used to walk a lot more than I do now, and felt very in tune with my surroundings and all the incredible life that was going on around me. Sometimes, I would just stop and sort of stare blankly in a certain direction to open up my peripheral vision in order to catch any movement. I didn’t realize that this was a ‘thing’ until I was reading a book and it mentioned a meditative trance that a hunter or someone who is observing animals does called the Hunters Trance. I feel that being inside a song can be much like this meditative trance and felt that this was the title as soon as I read it.
Cat Clyde “So Cold” (Official Audio)
Diandra: How do you feel this record shows where you are. currently, as a person and artist?
Cat Clyde: I’m very proud of this record and it was a very long and arduous journey to complete it. I have grown quite a lot since my first record and I feel this record is much more mature in every way. I was able to really stretch out and feel for where I felt the songs should be, and I didn’t give up until I found them. I feel these songs really reflect that voyage and are more in tune with my more confident self.
Diandra: What is one song, from the record, that left you feeling most vulnerable and why?
Cat Clyde: I don’t feel too vulnerable about my songs once I’ve decided to put them out there, but if I had to choose one I would probably choose ‘All The Black’. Probably, because it’s a very old song for me, as I wrote it when I was in high school, and it was one of the first songs I really connected with personally and reflects a difficult time in my life. To be releasing it now, feels a bit strange but also very relieving because it’s finally out in the world and seeing some sun.
Diandra: What is one major growth you see between your new record and your debut?
Cat Clyde: I feel that my voice has grown quite a lot. I used to be a very heavy smoker during my first record and, since I quit smoking, I can really hear a difference between the two. I think I understand a lot more about music and recording so I feel much more confident in my own musical instincts. Although, I’m still learning all the time.
Diandra: Your music can aim more for emotions and their image rather than messages. Naming an emotion what is an image and upcoming, Hunter’s Trance song you associate with it.
Cat Clyde:
Sadness- Anymore
Rage- So Heavy
Clarity- The River
Wounded- So Cold
Strange- All The Black
Wicked- I Don’t Belong Here
Diandra: Your songwriting has been called “meaningful” and “authentic.” What do you thinks makes verses genuinely connect with a person? What is one verse, you have written, that purely embodied an inner thought or a situation?
Cat Clyde: I feel that I connect with lyrics that are just simple and true. I don’t believe a good lyric is sweated or fretted for but is more like an opening door or a cleared pathway. I think it’s pretty mysterious. I think the opening line to ‘Bird Bone’, “It always starts with a trickle, then begins to flow”, really embodies how my mind likes to start turning on something and then its rushing down a steep hill very quickly.
To Buy Cat Clyde’s Hunter’s Trance On June 14 Click Here.
