If you have been fortunate enough, which I have, to catch Cat Clyde live these past few years, then two words that might feature heavily in your reaction could be ‘energy’ and ‘instinct.’ Cat’s music is raw and animate like the purest of rockabilly, but she is also connected to her craft and has a similar feel that one might attribute to the best of the modern Americana set, like Big Thief or Waxahatchee. It is no surprise to me, upon reading the details of Mud Blood Bone, her fourth LP across the nine years since first hitting the scene, that she took the musical congruence arrived at on stage immediately into her creativity as well. In fact, it sounds like she was leading quite the romantic nomadic lifestyle for a time, some of Mud Blood Bone being composed on a narrowboat in England whilst in transit between festival appearances and other places of productivity, including a Boler trailer parked on a farm in Ontario. Considering that two foundation poles of this record can sometimes sit too far apart to merge, where raw energy can lead to an absence of nuance, whereas too much introspection can feel a bit too removed, it is thrilling to hear how Clyde has fused both elements into a natural, harmonious fit.
None of this has happened by accident, of course. Cat Clyde had been exposed to live music-making in her childhood homes from her earliest memories and admits she cannot recall a time when she was not singing, though taking up guitar around age thirteen was a game-changer. She overcame the hurdle of her not-yet-fully-grown hands working the chord shapes of Leadbelly and Robert Johnson by writing her own songs. It could be that this urge to express through music was a welcome coping mechanism for life in the years since 2023’s Down Rounder album. She has confided that this has been a period of soul-searching, a time without love in her life and a phase in which she turned to nature, travel, and independence to, if not find all the answers, at least unlock a fresh perspective on existence. Right from our entry point, where Cat adopts her purest country croon and asks, in a song of the same name, “where is my love?” this sounds like work infused with personal detail and hurt. That is only the opening bars, mind; soon enough, the tune erupts, and our narrator slides into a far more raging, untamed disposition. Similarly, Man’s World sounds like a woman with the stomach for a fight back against the male-friendly world, so many women still have to protect themselves in.
Despite the overwhelming sense of pace, reflective intervals are evenly sprinkled throughout, although somehow, they retain an electrical current fuelling the introspection. I Am Now is built around a single, echoing piano figure, waiting over three minutes before showering us with the audio equivalent of a rainbow. My Love is a gloriously cinematic rendition of a Marty Robbins hit, drawing a lesser celebrated line back to a key country influence. Dark Back is superb, and like the momentum that will soon return, the lyric reflects on the temporary state of every circumstance and emotion. She has some range too, suggesting an artist who is still growing, just check out Hold My Hand with its swampy soulfulness worthy of Ry Cooder. Still, when she rocks, as on the Courtney Marie Andrews co-write Press Down, Cat has enough of a persuasive swing in her beat to grab the attention of any audience and hold it indefinitely. Consequently, I have already delighted in multiple repeat plays as this Canadian songwriter comes flying in like a midnight courier, express‑delivering through Concord Records the most intimate dispatches of her life. Mud Blood Bone crackles with urgency even as Cat bares her soul. It is her most personal record yet and also her most electrifying, a pulse‑quickening rush, wrapped in confession.
Mud Blood Bone (March 13, 2026) Concord Records
Pre-Order Mud Blood Bone: Bandcamp | Concord Records
Cat Clyde UK/EU Tour:
22 Apr – Berlin – Germany
23 Apr – Hamburg – Germany
25 Apr – Amsterdam – Netherlands
26 Apr – Antwerp – Belgium
27 Apr – Leffinge – Belgium
28 Apr – Paris – France
30 Apr – London – UK
01 May – Manchester – UK
02 May – Glasgow – UK