Tammy Haider Unveils Heartfelt New Album ‘Castrati Meow’

Castrati Meow is an album that drops to the depths, then guides us back to the surface — a raw, heartfelt journey through love, anger, sadness, and regret.

Melbourne-based songwriter Tammy Haider returns with Castrati Meow, a bold and emotionally potent new album that marks her most intimate and lyrically fearless work to date. Stripped back yet sonically rich, the album traces Haider’s journey through loss, self-reclamation, and creative awakening. 

Where 2019’s The One saw Haider blending acoustic textures with electronic hues, Castrati Meow draws on the immediacy of guitar-led songwriting—direct, raw, and emotionally attuned.

“I’ve never felt this way about any record I’ve made.” says Haider “I was braver, lyrically speaking, I wasn’t afraid of putting things in words, and there’s truly a sense of the long journey I took through real loss, reclaiming myself – then coming back even stronger”.

But Castrati Meow isn’t a typical breakup album. While albums like Exile in Guyville or Blood on the Tracks may come to mind, Haider’s new work eschews easy comparisons. Instead, it presents as a song cycle carved from shifting emotional landscapes. On “Leo,” she draws on her astrological sign to craft a quietly anthemic ode to resilience and dreaming beyond survival.

Elsewhere, the piano and double bass instrumental “Myschevious Ting” offers a moment of solemn reflection, while “Why Are You Always Running?”—a reimagining of a track from her Genuine Feeling EP—pulses with dobro-flecked nocturnal charm.

The creative spark for Castrati Meow was reignited during a spontaneous jam session with Amanda Kerr (Murphnick, Private Stash), following a period of musical disconnection during lockdown. The songs that began to emerge revealed themselves as emotionally hewn heavy hitters. “After lockdown: I was open to people” Haider says. “I was so happy to have this community back, it was a buzz, I felt enlivened, re-invigorated. It’s great having other people who can tap into the instinctual thing – having another singer accentuating certain vocal lines. It truly imbued my lyrics with greater resonance.” The ‘instinctual thing’ is integral to Haider’s method, feeling trumping thought. “Gut response is everything,” says Haider. “I can only write about things I feel.”

Instrumentals were recorded at home, alongside acoustic sessions tracked live at Sing Sing Studios, under the guidance of engineer Matt Voight (Cat Power’s Moon Pix) and at Dragon Peace Lodge with Stuart Prentice. Co-produced with Stuart Prentice (The Pharos Projection), the album also features contributions from Marcel Borrack (Marcel Borrack TD Band) and the ever-faithful Amanda Kerr.

Castrati Meow is a masterclass in subtlety, restraint and resonance—showcasing Haider’s ear for harmony and arrangement, her plaintive and vulnerable vocals float over arrangements that feel both intimate and cinematic. With its 90s-inflected folk-pop sensibility and lyrical candour, Castrati Meow is catchy, approachable and complex, with unexpected turns that are equally soothing, wistful, and utterly human.

Photo credits: Matthew Shaw