The Cat Empire have announced their ninth studio album, ‘Where The Angels Fall’, will arrive on August 25 via Ditto. It will mark the band’s first album since undergoing a major personnel change last year.
‘Where The Angels Fall’ was first featured with lead single ‘Thunder Rumbles’ last month, which debuted the band’s new performing line-up. In addition to its two founding members – frontman Felix Riebl and multi-instrumentalist Ollie McGill – the new incarnation of the band also includes bassist Grace Barbé, drummer Daniel Farrugia (who previously toured with them in 2018) and percussionist Neda Rahmani.
To coincide with the announcement, the band have shared the album’s second single, ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’, which opens with a riff by flamenco guitarist Richard Tedesco. It comes with a music video which follows a pair of headphones as they cross Europe and Australia and move through many pairs of hands. Watch it below – you can pre-order the album here.
In September 2021, Riebl and McGill announced that the band (as it existed at the time) would be disbanding, making way “for a new incarnation of The Cat Empire to come to life”. They played their last show with that line-up at last year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest.
‘Where The Angels Fall’ was written and recorded in the band’s hometown of Melbourne. It sees Riebl and McGill reunite – after some 20 years – with producer Andy Baldwin, who helmed the band’s self-titled debut in 2003.
“With the arrival of the new band comes a new album of brand new music,” McGill said in a statement about the new album. “Felix and I haven’t had this much fun in the studio since the recording of our debut album, which was also produced by Andy Baldwin. We challenge ourselves at the level of joy and sophistication that we have managed to conjure.”