‘Belle Boutelle’ provides a satisfying close to the EP. This is Lausse’s punishment for his hedonism and the track is seeped with a sense of guilt. It is a truly frightening track – think Kendrick Lamar’s ‘U’ levels of self-hate. Then comes ‘A Cat’s Demise’, with its lack of clear harmony and relentless kick and sub. The realism turned surreal is a stunning moment. The sweetness of the instrumental is made melancholic as the track ends with a brutally efficient description of Lausse ripping out and eating the girl’s heart. Lausse arrives and immediately starts flirting, sleeps with a girl, and then ultimately neglects her. A playful, single note keys line dances over grooving bass as childlike innocence underscores the simple excitement of a house party. ‘Fuccboi Lullaby’ recounts a house party Lausse goes to with his friends. The melody has a slightly eastern inflection, an influence built upon by Lausse’s artwork, some of which looks similar to the Japanese nihonga style.

‘Toy’s Story’ details Lausse’s youth in a painfully eerie walk down memory lane and the sombre cello of ‘Interlude’ provides the EP a filmic grandeur that elevates Lausse’s hedonistic downfall to the poignancy of tragedy. The beat switch to a wonky groove halfway through is one of many great production choices on the EP. ‘Drink with the Leaves’ showcases Lausse’s sonic creativity as what sounds like a pan flute gives the track an other worldliness uncommon in a genre reliant on keys and guitar. wondering and pondering his lonesome thoughts.’ The beat kicks in as haunting vocal snippets and keys start to flutter over live bass. The album opener ‘Motor City’ starts with narration, setting the scene of ‘a sad cat…. The lo-fi aesthetic is retained but Lausse’s voice is clearer and more present.

The 21-minute EP’s mix is noticeably better than the preceding singles. The story is the bizarre tale of the titular Lausse, a depressed cat seeking advice from a tree wizard about his empty heart. While there is an aesthetic consistency to all Lausse’s music, it is on his EP The Girl, The Cat and the Tree where his world is most vividly brought to life and he does something really exciting. Even on tracks like ‘Ciao Bella’ which explore the darker consequences of substance abuse, Lausse’s delivery remains characteristically numb to emotion. Lausse explains, ‘Witness my demise on telly, but I don’t need no Louis Theroux tellin’ me/ On documentary, that I’m sipping way more liquor than I am meant to be.’ He admits he drinks ‘to confuse my innards/Some parts hollow, these parts need filling.’ But Lausse wisely never lets his music devolve into self-pity. ‘Zinfandel Rosé’ and ‘Kitten Blues’ both detail disillusionment with the university lifestyle. He brings to the fore the lack felt by many in an age of hedonism, where pursuing pleasure can seem like the only goal. Lyrically, there is an unnamed sadness that permeates Lausse’s stories of drugs and alienation. These are the kind of lo-fi beats that command attention. While many of the singles rely on generic instrumentation, intricate production choices and the use of live bass and keys afford the tracks more movement and presence then is often the case. This coupled with occasional pitched up adlibs, narration and surreal imagery create a self-aware distance which allows it to be self-critical and never maudlin. His matter of fact delivery counterbalances the melancholia of the instrumentals preventing his self-introspection from becoming melodramatic. However, Lausse injects creativity into a genre that can too often feel stale. All the staples of alternative/lo-fi hip hop are here contemplative reverb-soaked keys, seventh chords, crackly samples. Most of Lausse’s work consists in delivering vivid tales of debauchery over melancholic, jazz inflected instrumentation. His matter of fact delivery counterbalances the melancholia of the instrumentals preventing his self-introspection from becoming melodramatic The stunning artwork released for each single reflects this off-kilter mood perfectly. The world created in his music is noir and downbeat, ideal for walks down dark alleys on winter nights. While the artist’s identity is a mystery, his alter ego Lausse is a womanising cat struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse. From London but working out of Leeds, Lausse has developed a small but devoted fanbase by releasing several singles and an EP on his SoundCloud page. Google ‘Lausse the Cat’ and you will be informed that he is ‘Prince of cats and Lord of the bins of Motor City.’ The lack of much more information on the artist only adds to the mystique of someone who is one of the most creative and interesting voices in the UK alternative hip hop scene.

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