Stream Cat Positive's (Tyson Ballew) new album 'The Star Thief'
DIY musician Tyson Ballew has been playing music with various projects for 20 years, having gigged with Kimya Dawson, Lemuria, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Paul Baribeau, and more, and if you’re unfamiliar with Tyson’s music but into those other artists, you should amend that now. Tyson’s latest project is a new Cat Positive album, The Star Thief, due this Friday (4/2) via Tummy Rock Records (pre-order). It’s a very cool album that’s cut from the same folk punk/anti-folk-adjacent cloth that you might expect, but it also dabbles in power pop, Midwest-style emo, and more. (Fans of fellow “cat positive” band The Weakerthans will also probably dig.) Tyson says:
My new album The Star Thief took over 5 years and 11 musicians to make. Whenever I could find the space or the time I would book sessions and chip away at these recordings. The result of this process is an 11 song album that uses science fiction and astronomy as a backdrop for characters whose lives and universe are starting to unravel. They find themselves staring into uncertainty.
The past few years I have had a slow and steady weekend warrior approach to music. Since I have always had some sort of other job and I have never relied on music as a livelihood, my projects have lived on indefinitely for when I have the time and space to nurture them. This disconnect has helped keep me going while I have seen so many musicians come and go. Some of which were very good, and some who had some success. What has kept me going so long has been the love of the work.
The album officially drops in two days, but a full stream of it premieres right here:
