“I was trying to outrun and this all-consuming heartache that I was feeling, and I didn’t really want to make a record about it,” Cate Le Bon says of the album that would become Michelangelo Dying. “It felt like too much of cliché, maybe, or just too vulnerable, you know, if you scratch everything. But when I sat down to try and make a new record that was in my mind going to be angular and industrial sounding, it was just another way of sidestepping, looking this heartache in the eye. I didn’t want to discuss [these feelings. But they wanted to be discussed, so I kind of surrendered to it.”
Michelangelo Dying is at times gut-wrenching but also very beautiful and a continuation of the sound she’s been exploring on 2019’s Reward and 2022’s Pompei. I talk with Cate about the album on this week’s episode of the BV Interviews podcast. We discussed how the album was not the record she intended or wanted to make; her creative partnership with producer and engineer Samur Khouja; working with musicians Dylan Hadley, Valentina Magliati, Stephen Black and Euan Hinshelwood on the album; her other career as a producer making records with Wilco, Dry Cleaning, Horsegirl and more; her 2026 tour plans; her new dog, and more.
You can listen to our whole conversation on the BV Interviews podcast below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Cate Le Bon will be on tour in early 2026, and plays NYC’s Irving Plaza on January 16. All dates are listed below.
Cate Le Bon Tour Dates
Thu. Oct. 9 – Cardiff, UK @ Llais, Wales Millennium Centre
Fri. Oct. 10 – Manchester, UK @ New Century
Sat. Oct. 11 – Leeds, UK @ Howard Assembly Rooms
Mon. Oct. 13 – Glasgow, UK @ St. Luke’s
Tue. Oct. 14 – York, UK @ The Crescent
Wed. Oct. 15 – Gateshead, UK @ Glasshouse
Fri. Oct. 17 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Thu. Nov. 6 – Madrid, ES @ Mon
Fri. Nov. 7 – Barcelona, ES @ Paral·lel 62
Sun. Nov. 9 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique
Mon. Nov. 10 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
Wed. Nov. 12 -Berlin, DE @ Säälchen
Thu. Nov. 13 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
Fri. Nov. 14 – Cologne, DE @ Gebäude 9
Sun Nov. 16 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage
Tue. Nov. 18 – London, UK @ Barbican
Mon. Jan. 12 – Washington, DC @ The Howard Theatre
Tue. Jan. 13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Thu. Jan. 15 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
Fri. Jan. 16 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Sat. Jan. 17 – Hudson, NY @ Basilica Hudson
Mon. Jan. 19 – Montréal, QC @ Le National
Tue. Jan. 20 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall
Thu. Jan. 22 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Jan. 23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium
Sat. Jan. 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
Tue. Jan. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
Wed. Jan. 28 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Fri. Jan. 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Sat. Jan. 31 – Los Angeles, CA @The Belasco