recorded their eponymous debut studio album sporadically over seven months during 2003 with Andy Baldwin, co-producing, at studios in Melbourne and at Byron Bay. They recorded material in-between touring Australia, playing at the St Kilda Festival with Kate Ceberano and appearing at the Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival. The band were nominated in two categories at the Australian Jazz Awards. The band successfully applied for an International Pathways grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. The band were featured in BBC Four coverage of the 2003 WOMAD Festival. Their track "Two Shoes" was placed on high rotation on BBC Radio 1 in August 2003. The band's growing live and critical reputation put them in a great position to approach record companies for a record deal for their self-financed, self-titled debut album in the middle of 2003. The band signed a deal with EMI's Virgin Records subsidiary.
Charting and live success
The first single from The Cat Empire, "Hello", was released in October 2003, its music video was Channel V's clip of the week ahead of one by Justin Timberlake. The single peaked at No. 12 on the New Zealand Singles Chart during January 2004. The album was issued on 24 October 2003, which peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart. National radio station, Triple J nominated it as their album of the week in November. The group appeared on Australian TV shows, Rove with Rove McManus and The Panel on Network Ten, which helped raise the album's profile. It was certified gold in Australia by ARIA by December 2003. "Days Like These" was issued as the second single in February 2004, reaching the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart. Their debut album received platinum accreditation in that year, and was certified 2× platinum in the following year for shipment of 140,000 units. Their third single "The Chariot" debuted in the ARIA top 40 in May 2004. "Hello" was listed at No. 6 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003, one of the biggest music polls in the world, with other singles, "Days Like These" at No. 37 and "The Chariot" at No. 100. This album was released with the Copy Control protection system in some regions. Its fourth single, "One, Four, Five", appeared late in 2004. It was reviewed in March 2012 by The British Medical Journals Ray Moynihan who felt the "little known gem" with its title giving "a simple reference to a common progression of chords, but, more deeply, it's a call to celebrate the power of music" had "lyrical musings seem whimsical, but they resonate through a small though growing evidence base." At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004, the band received six nominations for Best Group, Best Breakthrough Artist – Album and Best Urban Release for The Cat Empire; Engineer of the Year for Andy Baldwin's work on the album, Producer of the Year for Baldwin and the group, and Best Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Days Like These" from this album.
Track listing
Releases
A different version of The Cat Empire was released in some European countries under the Universal Music Group. It adds the rare track, "Feline", as track 7, thereby renumbering the later tracks. "The Chariot" and "Beanni" trade places. A promotional advance release of the album also exists, called Oct 2003 Album and was sent to reviewers before the album was released. It contains the same track listing as the European version. Another advance release exists, again, pressed by Virgin Records, and labelled 'PR343', which has the same track listing as the 'PR337' release, albeit with correct spelling of track 3 on the disc. The tracks in the promotional release are all earlier, more 'raw' mixes and have subtle differences, yet they contribute greatly to the depth of each track. A few examples include extra background percussion throughout "How to Explain?", and different voice samples in "Days Like These".
