Single and video ‘Formless’ out now Watch video here, Listen here

Delilah Holliday returns with her most ambitious and unflinching body of work to date. ‘Fat Cat’, her debut album, released August28th via One Little Independent Records, is a new wave recession-pop concept record that interrogates grief, systemic inequality, and spiritual survival under late-stage capitalism. The announcement comes alongside new single ‘Formless’. Marking a significant moment in her evolution as an artist, ‘Fat Cat’ sees Delilah pushing her sound further without ever sacrificing the experimental, DIY edge and emotional depth that has defined her creatively her entire life, from her time in punk breakouts Skinny Girl Diet to her critically acclaimed 2023 ‘Invaluable’ mixtape.

‘Fat Cat’ was written during a period of profound grief. It exists at the intersection of intense lived trauma and political awareness. Delilah describes a sequence of loss that unfolded within a very short space of time. Much of the record was conceived while she was pregnant, navigating illness and instability. During this period, she experienced the death of her uncle Simon, whose guidance and mentorship were instrumental in shaping her both personally and artistically. She says that she would not be a musician without him. Within months, she then lost her Nana (“never “Grandma,” as she would insist”), a formidable matriarch on her maternal side who emigrated to the UK from St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, during the Windrush generation. Just one month later, she experienced the loss of her child. These events sit at the emotional core of the album, undeniably impacting its meaning and deeper philosophy. She admits that at times it has been hard to listen back.

“Before last year, I thought I understood grief through empathy, but I had never truly experienced its full emotional weight,” she explains. “I had endured loss before, but nothing prepared me for the devastation of losing multiple foundational figures in my family within such a short period. It shattered me. Without my support network, I truly do not know if I would still be here. Living with chronic mental illness already requires daily endurance, and this level of pain pushed me to my absolute limit. Rather than allowing grief to destroy me, I transmuted that pain into Fat Cat.”

Sonically, the album builds on the dreamlike, transportive qualities of her earlier work while pushing into a more refined pop framework. Downtempo electronics, trip-hop textures, and fractured hyper-pop drift between states of disorientation and clarity, balancing accessibility with antagonism. Collaboration plays a key role here; Raphael Ninot (Raph) emerges as a central creative partner, bringing an intensely personal level of commitment to producing the project, while Liam Howe (of Sneaker Pimps) elevated it while retaining its contemporary sound.

The title track and opener ‘Fat Cat’ sets the tone for the album’s political core amidst a flurry of wild breakbeats. The “fat cat” becomes a symbol of unchecked wealth and exploitation, while the repeated line “I know God’s got a plan” sits in deliberate ambiguity, somewhere between faith and resistance. “Your personal suffering exists within a larger, unjust system,” she says. “I wanted to create something relatable that highlights the frustrations I have with society in a way others can connect to.”

Pre-save album here