Cath Carroll | Biography
Cath Carroll was born in Bristol and raised in Swansea, Ipswich and finally, her family hometown of Manchester. In 1979 she joined forces with fellow Mancunian Liz Naylor to form the band Glass Animals in addition to co-editing the infamously vitriolic City Fun fanzine. Although the city then boasted an embarrassment of musical riches - Joy Division, New Order, Factory, Magazine, Buzzcocks - City's Fun's whining pages were loathe to admit this. Only The Fall, The Smiths and Ludus seem ever to have been singled out for praise, with Cath and Liz even managing the latter wayward band for a brief period in 1982/83. In 1980 the Glass Animals changed their name to the Gay Animals and, having worn out their welcome in the north of England, moved to London in 1984. They immediately broke up.
Here Cath embarked on a dual career, writing for the New Musical Express (as Myrna Minkoff) and fronting her band Miaow. The group released their first single, Belle Vue, on their own Venus label in 1985, and in early 1987 their recording When It All Comes Down brought them to the attention of Tony Wilson at Factory. Despite City Fun having made a career out of carping about Factory, the celebrated label released the song as a single and went on to release another, Break the Code. During this time the band were also rewarded with two Peel sessions and appearances on several high-profile compilations, including the seminal C86. Cath also recorded extensively with The Hit Parade, for releases in England and Japan.
Sadly Miaow were destined never to complete their planned Factory album debut, and after several line-up changes finally parted company in 1988. Cath started work on her solo album debut for Factory, England Made Me, in June 1988, and over the next year various sessions were recorded in Sheffield, Sao Paolo, London and Chicago. The title, incidentally, was inspired by the Graham Greene novel about middle-class life during the Depressed 1930s, and the songs largely co-written with Sim Lister. Towards the end of the recording schedule she went to Chicago to record with Steven Albini, whom she had met while working for Big Black's British label, Blast First. Together they contributed a version of King Creole to the NME compilation The Last Temptation of Elvis.
In late 1989, Cath relocated to Chicago and EMM was finally released in June 1991. The set was acclaimed as a sinister collection of moody dance and bizarre bossa nova, and is particularly effective on dance orientated cuts such as Send Me Over, Subtitled and the single Moves Like You. After the collapse of Factory in November 1992 the relative expense of the project (including photo sessions with Robert Mapplethorpe) was cited as a factor in the label's demise, but in truth the album's high budget was only one of a series is fiscal indiscretions by Factory.
Cath's status as an indie cult figure was affirmed by DC band Unrest, who included the quirky tribute Cath Carroll on their 1993 4AD album Perfect Teeth. Main man Mark Robinson's appreciation lead to two singles for his Teenbeat label, My Cold Heart and Bad Star, as well as the second Cath Carroll solo album, True Crime Motel, released in 1995. In 1994 Cath began recording with Kerry Kelekovich, a Chicago-based musician and engineer whom she married in 1996. TCM marked a return to guitars, and the album was a critical success, with the word noir frequently aired in describing the shadowy lyrical undertow and understated vocal delivery.
This became the eponymous Cath Carroll, which appeared in 2000. The pair's first real collaboration, both contributed equally to the writing, while Kerry handled all of the playing and production. The album appeared on their own Lilypad label and was described by one reviewer as a blend of Astrud Gilberto and Roxy Music, and by another as a shadowy corner of the adult pop universe.
In 2002 Cath and Kerry completed a new album, The Gondoliers of Ghost Lake. Written and produced in her adopted home town of Chicago, standout tracks include The Divine Miss A (Morrissey meets the Kinks in tribute to transgendered Mancunian), Free (post 60s mystical rock), Man Goes Down the Highway (rarified folk-dub, on the same continuum as Luscious Jackson and Pulsillama) and the infectious Mystified (romping dance-pop with a latin underpin).
In tandem with her musical career, Cath continues to write prose. -James Nice/LTM Records (2004)
England Made Me was released in 1991 on the charismatic Factory Records label. Cath was the first songwriter to sign a formal contract with Factory and a reissue of EMM -- featuring four additional tracks not found on the original pressings -- was released by LTM Records July 8, 2002 (also available at Lilypad Records and many other fine retailers).
Critics have rediscovered this underrated gem:
Glasgow Herald ***"She may have been written out of Mancs for the memories movie, '24 Hour Party People,' yet, having already been co-responsible for the best magazine ever with 'City Fun', the rad-fem confrontationalist cabaret of The Glass Animals and indie underachievers Miaow prior to this re- released 1991 solo debut, Cath Carroll was as Factory Records as they come. Yet, out of step with the post-baggy fallout, such a coolly sophisticated set of electro-bossa melancholy cool must've seemed like terminal hiding of lights beneath bushels. Either that, or else it was just too pretty and too clever for the likes of us, an eerily displaced, less eager to please kid sister to the sort of faraway dreamscapes Saint Etienne were then wafting off to, on 'Moves Like You' and 'Send Me Over,' especially." - Neil CooperChicago Sun-Times*** Reissue of the 1991 Factory debut by the laid-back indie chanteuse. Gentle grooves and a voice to melt your heart. - Jim DeRogatis
Q Magazine "...Although several of the tracks here have commercial appeal and Cath possesses a beautifully pitched vocal style, it's the odd mixture of authentic Brazilian rhythms and European electronic austerity that make England Made Me larger than life... England Made Me is a must." - Dave Henderson
Tangents "...a strange, beguiling collection of slightly melancholic electro-dance and spooked bossa-nova pop; dancing in the dark with the ghosts of post-punk or flying down to Rio with razor blades and safety pins for wings. Standout tracks are the more dance-oriented tracks like Send Me Over, Subtitled and the fabulous opener Moves Like You which sound like typically fine early '90s 'dance' tunes, from a time when it seemed there were real adventurous trips being taken in that genre, before it all imploded into tedious formula. Whatever. Best of all however is the frankly scary Train You're On. Imagine a Mardi Gras float festooned in garlands of razor-wire and poppies populated by an early A Certain Ratio and you'd be close, but still a million miles away. It's really that good." - Alistair Fitchett
The Gondoliers Of Ghost Lake , a fourteen track collection of new originals November 11. 2002 on LTM Records worldwide (11/12/02 in the US).
Q Magazine 1/03
Moody guitar textures and flat electronic beats discreetly light her diaphanous waft of a voice and songs which slip along reality's edge, questioning everything. Think Twin Peaks, even The Blair Witch Project, minus screams and corpses. ***
Uncut 1/03
Cath Carroll possesses an extraordinary voice, sensuous and dreamy and capable of uniting diverse influences with a cool grace, here acid-folk, Smiths-esque pop, hippie rock and Latino club romps are blessed with her hypnotic understatement and literate guile. This is grown-up pop resounding with heartfelt warmth and steely seriousness.
Time Out New York 12/02
Carroll's best since her Factory days, and her most musically adventurous: There's a rich palette of shuffling electro loops, spooky atmospherics and funhouse psychedelia dappled with bright acoustic guitar.
