Cat Matthews has a story to tell. Cat Matthews has something to say. And after a stretch of physically not being able to share her story, she’s ready to speak now. 

And, having spoken with her myself, I can tell you first hand, her story is worth a listen. 

Hailing from the San Fernando Valley, Matthews grew up in a creative household, having come from a long line of creatives, among which include actor Michael Landon, her maternal grandfather. 

“Growing up in Los Angeles, I was obviously surrounded from a very young age by music and our rich musical history and culture out here. And luckily, I had such wonderfully supportive parents who gently kind of shepherded me and my siblings towards those kind of creative pursuits,” Matthews explains in an interview with Culture Cabinet. 

“We all took piano lessons, art lessons, but I was the only child who actually loved having the piano lessons, and the rest of my siblings quit. Even before they had me in piano lessons, [my parents] said I was their only baby who, before I could walk, I’d actually crawl up on the piano bench. They had a little baby grand in our old house, and I’d crawl up there and sit at the piano bench. There’s actually a really sweet photo of me. I’m so little, but I’m just sitting up there, and I have my fingers on the keys, and they said that I just could not stay away from the piano. So that was actually my first love, and kind of my gateway into music and making music.”

It was this natural inclination towards music that propelled Matthews into the realm of writing and creating her own music. 

 “At the age of four, I started classical piano training with a professor at the Colburn School of Music here in downtown LA, and I just fell in love with it. But, I was a pretty shy kid. I did not like singing out loud for anybody, except for by myself at night, in the backyard, away from everyone. The first time I sang in front of anybody was at a church talent show with my sister, and she begged me, you know, ‘Please play the piano, and if you want, you can sing with me.’ I ended up singing some harmonies with her. And, as any quintessential LA story goes, a really high powered vocal contractor a church goer at our church in Bel Air, and she listened to me.  She said, ‘Oh, you have to work for me.’ And then from age 11-12, I immediately got catapulted into working: doing sessions, singing, and vocal contracting at some of the most iconic LA studios, like Capitol Records, and Sunset Sound, and East West So, pretty early on, I was just really thrown into the real professional recording environment, and fell in love with the art of recording.” 

While she had been recording and playing music from a very young age, Matthews eventually set her sights on creating and writing her own music, though she did not necessarily originally plan to release it. Over the course of her freshman year at New York University, Matthews released a 4 track cassette EP, under the name niña, where she served as half a music duo with her then-boyfriend. Her work with niña ultimately gave her the opportunity to dip her toes into the world of releasing music to the public and performing live. But, after the band split in an amicable breakup, Matthews found herself face to face with an even greater tragedy: the literal loss of her voice. 

Only one month after the dissolution of niña, Matthews underwent a routine procedure, where anesthesia tube was incorrectly removed. This left her with a five centimeter tear to her trachea, and a complete inability to speak. She spent months completely mute. 

“All of these things came to a screeching halt, and it was really difficult for me to be in a position where I couldn’t speak to anybody about what I was going through, to not be able to verbally unpack or process my emotions, or even audibly cry,” she says of the tragedy. 

“It was just so much silence and having to really retreat inward, and it it forced me to really get in touch with parts of myself and really get uncomfortable unpacking things that I had never spent any real time with, just in forced solitude and being completely sequestered from the rest of the world. One of the only outlets I had during that time, arguably the only outlet I had, was sitting at my childhood piano and sitting there and thinking. And there would be times when I would just sit at the piano and I wouldn’t touch it for hours, because I had nothing else to do. I would just sit there and think, and I’d spend time there. Sometimes I’d play, and sometimes that would turn into me handwriting some notes or jotting things down on my iPhone. And before I knew it, a couple months of that had turned into, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve written a whole body of songs here.’”

“I remember having a very clear moment to thinking, ‘Oh, I I’ve never written like this before,’ and I’m not even just talking about the process of writing songs in my head and being unable to express them, but I had found a new part of my voice in my voicelessness, where I was writing more poignantly and finding my qualities and my my characteristics as a songwriter that I hadn’t been able to tap into before. So, it really kind of blew the creative lid off my workflow, who I was becoming as a young woman and as an artist, and I as as terrifying as that time was, it was so integral to my discovery.” 

Matthews has since released four singles, including “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” out today, with plans to release a full album in the near future. The songs were written during her time of recovery from her trachea injury, and come from what Matthews promises as a deep place of the heart. 

Each track showcases airy vocal talents, and soothing tones that feel reminiscent of the Laurel Canyon greats that she cites as some of her biggest influences. 

“Kaleidoscope Eyes” opens with vintage-sounding string chords, taking the listener on a dreamlike journey that feel well catered to Matthews’ ethereal voice. Her style sounds reminiscent of an artist like Kacey Musgraves, while still remaining unique in Matthews’ voice. Which is what she is aiming for. 

“[I want to spread] the positive message of being true to yourself,” she says. “I want to spread the importance of integrity. Doing what you want to do with your music, with your dreams, with your life. I know this type of artistic journey and process, the one I’m on, it’s a little more unorthodox. I’m not leaning into TikTok as heavily as a lot of industry people would hope. I’m not leaning into the typical avenues that are expected of new artists, but I’m hoping that it’ll pay dividends in the future. Hopefully, if I continue to do it the way that I’m comfortable with, and the way that I feel like I’m keeping my artistic integrity, it’ll just send that kind of same message to people. Like, ‘Oh no, you don’t have to do it this way. If you believe in the music you’re making, and if you really spend time with it, at the end of the day, it is about the music.’ And I want that to ring true.” 

But, as for what she hopes the future holds for her journey as an artist, Matthews gives a sweet but simple answer. 

“I want people to connect with what I have to say. I hope that people can take what they need from it, but I hope that my integrity and who I am as an artist is seen in this project. I hope that I can continue to lean into that in my next projects or my live performances. I just want them to feel close to the music. I’ve always wanted to create a very intimate listening experience. Even the experience of recording the entire album was super intimate. It’s just artists in a room, and we’re all recording to tape. I want to invite people into that world. I want them to feel like they’re a part of my world, and for them to feel comfortable and invited into that would would be a huge takeaway.”

I’d encourage you to accept Cat Matthews’ invitation to step into her world. It’s well worth your time. 

You can stream “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” and other songs by Cat Matthews below: