Cat Be Damned is the project of Richmond, VA-based musician Erik Phillips, who has been making muted pop songs under the name for a few years now. Phillips’ music is similarly-minded as that of Mat Cothran (Elvis Depressedly, Coma Cinema), Sam Ray (Ricky Eat Acid, Teen Suicide), and Emily Yacina, artists who use intimate recordings as a means to approach some sort of muddied emotional clarity. (They were also featured on the fantastic Art Week 2016 compilation, which was curated by Ray and served as a veritable who’s who of up-and-coming musicians of the same sonic persuasion.) The 8-track Daydreams In A Roach Motel is Cat Be Damned’s next release, and “Soft Collision” is the hushed track that opens the tape. It’s an evocative lullaby, sleepy and warm; Phillips’ voice is cushioned against the warbled, tuned-down guitar at the center as they whisper about how “there’s no force behind a frown” and asks someone to “take my teeth out of my mouth and hold them in your hands,” a request that sounds like it was ripped straight out of a nightmare if it wasn’t for the final, calming line: “We’ll take turns ‘cus we are friends.” Listen below.

Tracklist:
01 “Soft Collision”
02 “Boy Eats Flowers”
03 “Pretty Heavy”
04 “Daydreams In A Roach Motel”
05 “Wet Matches”
06 “Cop”
07 “Drown”
08 “The James River”

Daydreams In A Roach Motel is out 5/20 via Joy Void Recordings.