Catbells: “Partly Cloudy” (2023) CD Review

Catbells is the stage name of a singer and songwriter whose real identity is something of a mystery. Her name is not listed on her website or in the press release, and photos of her (on the CD case and online) all have her face hidden behind a furry cat mask. The only conclusion I can draw is that she is in the Witness Protection Program and the government agent in charge was in a playful mood that day, handing out names from Beatrix Potter’s The Tale Of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. No worries, however, because it works. What is important is the music, and her music is excellent. She has released several singles and an EP, and has now released her debut full-length album, titled Partly Cloudy. She provides the vocals and plays acoustic guitar on this album, and is joined by Billy Mohler, who plays the other instruments and produced the album. Mohler also mixed most of the tracks, with Ali Chant mixing three of them. Partly Cloudy contains all original material.

The album opens with “Fade (Rainy Day Demo).” “I feel so numb,” she sings as the song begins. It’s a song about trying to move on, to put someone in the past, and the difficulties encountered in doing so. “You moved on so easily/I try and try to do the same/But I just can't seem to make you fade.” The song has a mellow, relaxed vibe, and while there is a yearning in her voice, there is also something soothing, something dreamy, that leads us to believe things are okay, as she sings at one point, “It’s okay, yeah, it’s okay.”  If not in that crazy world out there, at least in this other world that she’s creating with her music things are okay. A different version of this song was released as a single a couple of years ago. That’s followed by “Wilderness,” which has a beautiful sound from the start, particularly in her vocal delivery. And when a song begins with the word “hope,” I find myself paying even closer attention, especially in these strange days. Here are those opening lines: “Hope, it haunts me in my life like a ghost/It leads me there until I’m surely lost inside/The wilderness of my mind.” Those are excellent and compelling opening lines. And check out this line: “And though it surely seems I lost a friend, I lost myself instead.” Lyrics like these can help us get lost in the wilderness of our own minds, in memories and desires. But her voice is the perfect companion on any journey inward. This is one of my personal favorites from the album.

“Gone Too Far” is an interesting song. It has a rather gentle vibe, yet there is some electric guitar work that threatens at times to take things in another direction, toward a heavier place. Those moments help keep us completely engaged, and help make this track another of the disc’s highlights. “I can't say that I never felt the same way/But I’m to blame for the way things are, it’s gone too far.” Then “I Wish” has a kind of pretty instrumental introduction. “Please give me one more try/I promise I won’t fuck it up this time/Life was better when I was young/I didn’t feel this way back then, but I do now.” Songs that deal with aging, with memories, speak more and more strongly to me. “And I wish I could remember/I wish I could forget/The things that you once told me/Things that I regret.” There doesn’t seem to be sadness here, for she has turned it to beauty. This track features some good guitar work. And speaking of memory, she follows that with a song titled “Like A Memory.” The vibe of much of this music is like memory, and it helps us tap into our own memories, as well as into this dream she has created. It is like she is orchestrating our memories, the act of remembering, inserting herself into our pasts. “I feel like something lost in time/I feel like a memory,” she sings here.

There is something intimate in her delivery as she sings, “Don’t look back, I know that/I’ve read this all before” in “It’s Not Hard.” Sometimes it’s not a matter of looking back, but looking within, though the results might be the same. This music carries us along, and I wonder if each person who listens will experience something markedly different, depending on his or her own history and interior. Listening to this music is a very personal experience. “It’s Not Hard” is followed by “Same As You.” This one comes on with a brighter energy, yet interestingly it too looks to the past in its first lines: “Staring at the ground I see/Nothing but my distant memories/I can only see the faded images of what we used to be.” Sometimes we just have to let the memories have their way with us and move on. “I can only shut my eyes and hold my breath and let it move through me.” She sounds almost happy about it, which is encouraging. That’s followed by another interesting song, “Ask Me Tomorrow.” Check out these lines: “Ask me tomorrow/How I feel today/Ask me tomorrow/How was yesterday/Because I don't want to know/What I’ll say when you go/Ask me tomorrow Just not today.”

The lines “Don’t mistake my smile/You never had a chance” from “Ground Force” made me laugh out loud the first time I listened to this album. Those lines come as a surprise, and I love the attitude. There is a different sort of approach on this one, coming from a place of more strength. This is another of the disc’s highlights. Then “Distant Star” begins with a beat, and features a cool bass line. There is something familiar about this track, about its sound, taking us back to an earlier time. “Oh, and I’ll go/Where the night goes/There’s a light that shines alone.” This is yet another of the disc’s highlights. Then “Leaves” has a sweet, gentle pop vibe. “Leaves keep blowing ever slowly/Never knowing where I’m going.” That image of leaves blowing slowly, of time slowing just a bit, is an interesting one, especially for those of us who grew up in New England, for whom it calls up a certain time, a certain temperature, and a strange sort of loneliness.

“Don’t tell me it’s okay, because it’s not,” the opening line of “Trying Not To Feel,” is one that grabs us. We want to say that things are okay because we want so desperately for things to be okay. This song features some excellent lyrics, such as these: “‘Cause in between the light and the dark/I found a place to hide, at least I try/But every night I lie awake/Wondering how much I can take/Trying not to feel/Makes me want to cry.” Fantastic. This is a beautiful and moving song that I could listen to over and over, while giving up trying not to feel, allowing myself to break down. It features an absolutely wonderful vocal performance and is one of the album’s best tracks, perhaps its very best. It was released as a single over the summer. The album then concludes with “Riding Tides.” This track uses the sound of static, like we’re listening to an old recording. That effect is not really necessary, but this is a good song, one that feels like the end of the day, when we’re alone. “And I’m floating out to sea/On a boat made just for me/Riding tides ‘til I find/The place that calls to me.” The search continues in our dreams.

CD Track List

1. Fade (Rainy Day Demo)
2. Wilderness
3. Gone Too Far
4. I Wish
5. Like A Memory
6. It’s Not Hard
7. Same As You
8. Ask Me Tomorrow
9. Ground Force
10. Distant Star
11. Leaves
12. Trying Not To Feel
13. Riding Tides

Partly Cloudy was released on October 27, 2023, and is available on both CD and vinyl.