Cat Ryan Release ‘Free From This’ - The song that started everything…

‘Free From This’ is Cat Ryan’s origin point - the track that crystallised their sound and gave the Newcastle four-piece their name - and arriving now, after years as a live staple, it finally gets the studio treatment it deserves.

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Mixed and mastered by Tilly Louise, the single is a bright, punchy slab of surf-inflected indie-pop, all angular guitars and infectious rhythmic drive. It sits comfortably alongside the band’s established touchstones - Vampire Weekend’s melodic precision, Hippo Campus’s sun-baked warmth - without feeling derivative. The guitars carry that characteristic choppiness, surf-soaked but never pastiche, and the rhythm section keeps things snapping along at a pace that makes the track feel simultaneously effortless and tightly wound.

What elevates ‘Free From This’ above the average indie-pop cut is the sense of intention behind it. This is a band who know exactly what they’re doing, who have been refining this particular sound across festival stages at The Great Escape, Truck and Kendal Calling, and through support slots with the likes of SPRINTS and Sundara Karma. The result is a release that sounds lived-in rather than workshopped, carrying the energy of a track that’s been tested in front of rooms full of people.

Free From This is where Cat Ryan began. I’d been writing music for years, but when this song came together I remember thinking - this is the sound I didn’t even know I was looking for. From then, I knew exactly the direction I was going in, and consequently decided on the name Cat Ryan for my artist name. It was a pivotal moment for me as a songwriter.  Since moving to Newcastle and forming the band, we've been playing Free From This live for years and it always felt like it deserved a proper release. It’s been sitting in my demos folder ever since writing it, and coming back to it, re-recording it and finally putting it out feels like closing a chapter before moving onto releasing our newer material.  - MARY-ANNE MURPHY (lead vocals & guitar)

‘Free From This’ closes a chapter before Cat Ryan move on to newer material, and as statements of intent go, it’s a confident one.