About Us
“CATBEAR are the hottest new indie grrrl band ”
— DIVA Magazine
Hello 👋
Hi, we’re best friends Zoe and Sarah, and we make music shaped by the sounds we grew up with - the indie, synth-pop and electronic music of the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Our songs are full of the emotions that keep us up at night: joy, anxiety, heartbreak, longing and hope. If you’ve landed here, we hope it’s because something in the music has connected with you.
We started making music together in a noisy, dirty South London rehearsal room many years ago. Sarah played drums, Zoe played guitar. After a few years of playing in damp basement venues and at house parties around London and the South East of England, we took a break and started to develop a new sound with synths and bigger production at the heart of the writing process.
Our first single Beast of the Night came out at the end of 2018. The lyrics bemoaned the monster we become when we go out, whilst expressing an apathy for the party lifestyle. Over time we experimented and developed our sound; sometimes bouncy synth pop longing, as in Unrequited Love and Girl Crush, sometimes bringing our indie guitars back, as in Love and War, and indulging in our love of cinematic synthwave for In The Night.
CATBEAR began with an infatuation with synths and the intersection between bright indie pop and dark nostalgic moody music, and with every single we released, our sound developed a little more.
We decided to round up all our singles together into an album - Into The Light - at a point where it felt we had developed the sound and were ready to start making the songs of our next chapter.
I Choose Love was the first of a new group of songs that will form our second album. Influenced by post-punk and darkwave, it marked a shift in focus - moving beyond interpersonal relationships to explore broader LGBTQ+ themes in the lyrics. Since then, the singles have ranged from upbeat indie pop to dreamy, immersive synthscapes with a touch of fantasy.
From the first time we performed as CATBEAR - opening for ARXX in London - before heading out on a UK tour with The Subways in 2023, we discovered how our music sounded in a big room with people listening and watching for the first time. When we first started writing our songs we never intended for them to be played live, so ever since those early shows , we have been developing how we perform them, and how they sound in the live space, which in turn informs the writing and production of new songs.
In the past few years we’re proud to have reached many new ears around the world, with our streams in the millions and some of you even walking around in CATBEAR t-shirts and hats. We’ve played festivals including The Great Escape and Bristol Pride and we’ve had the chance to share stages with artists who’ve inspired us from the beginning, including The Human League and Ladytron. Support from Arts Council England and Help Musicians has encouraged us to keep growing, creating, and connecting with more people along the way.
The most important thing to us is that we make music that we like, and that it sounds like us, because it’s only us involved in the making of it. We write, play, record, produce, and release all CATBEAR’s music ourselves from Zoe’s studio, and design, pack, and post our merchandise from Zoe’s home in Brighton, so when you buy something, it comes directly from us.
Right now, we’re putting the finishing touches on our new album. If you’ve heard our recent singles - Rush, Grow Up, or Carry On - they’re a hint of what’s to come.
Thanks for being interested in our journey and for being part of the ride. Whether you’ve just found our music or you’ve been with us for a while, we love that you’re here. It means everything 💜💜
“An astounding new single even CHVRCHES would be proud to call their own”
— It’s All Indie