The Cat Empire is the eponymous debut studio album of Australian alternative rock band The Cat Empire, which was released on 24 October 2003. It peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified 2× platinum by ARIA in 2005. Four singles were issued from the album, "Hello" (October 2003), "Days Like These" (February 2004), "The Chariot" (May 2004) and "One, Four, Five" (2004). At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004, the band received six nominations including Best Group, Best Breakthrough Artist – Album and Best Urban Release for The Cat Empire; Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year for Baldwin's work on the album.

The Cat Empire 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 (February 2003) and appearing at the Byron Bay Blues & Roots Festival (April). 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.

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