Lord of the Dance
Bono features on bizarre tribute album in memory of a dead cat
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Bono features on bizarre tribute album in memory of a dead cat

We're not kitten you, this is real.

U2 frontman Bono is one of a number of stars who have contributed to a bizarre album in memory of an artist's dead cat.

Sophie Calle, a French conceptual artist, produced the record in memory of her late pet Souris ('Mouse' in English) who died in 2014.

Ms Calle reached out to some 37 musicians from around the world including Michael Stipe, Pharrell Williams and Jarvis Cocker to contribute to the project.

'Souris Calle' is now available on Spotify and features at Ms Calle's latest exhibition, which opened in Paris earlier this month.

The bizarre compilation opens with Bono reciting a spoken word poem, 'Message to Souris', in voicemail message format over a rock beat, saying:

She seems to hide all looks that have ever fallen into her/ So that like an audience she can look them over/ Menacing and sullen, curls asleep with them/ Then all at once, as if awakened/ She turns her face to yours/ And with a shock you see yourself/ Tiny, inside the golden amber of her eyeballs.

Other tracks featured on the record include a quirky electronic instrumental song by US singer Williams titled 'A Cat Named Mouse', and a pop tune titled 'Le violon blanc de Monsieur Souris' by the band The National.

Ms Calle announced plans for the album in June and debuted the project at Paris' Perrotin Gallery this month, with the exhibition also including photographs and autobiographical texts written by the French artist about the death of her cat, as well as close family and friends.

She previously admitted people had dismissed her mourning of Souris as "ridiculous", even though she had a stronger bond with the pet than her immediate family.

"When you say you're sad about the cat, it's a bit obscene for people. You can't say that," she told ArtNet.

"I mean, if I say my mother or my father is dead, everyone tells me 'Oh, poor thing, she lost her mother, oh, poor thing, she lost her father,' but if we say that about our cat, we seem ridiculous.

"It makes me laugh, when for me, in my daily life, it was almost more violent, because I lived with my cat. I didn't live with my parents."