Cigarettes @ Sunset – Forty Four Forty
Similar artists: SLOTHH, Babe Haven, Galloway, Juniper Avenue
Genre: Alternative Rock
Cigarettes @ Sunset believe in keeping garage rock dirty and out of the reach of small children. They’re doing the kind of work for which Saint Iggy might send his blessings.
Distorted guitars should only be played by people who are really angry with the world or deliriously happy and wish to show it. They don’t go well on anything in between because they’re supposed to express passion. Now, there’s a problem here with the fact that modern pop music is built to be lukewarm and dispassionate.
Perhaps this is why we so rarely hear the electric guitar on hit records. Someone rapping cooly about owning a dozen Mercedeses, someone singing nonchalantly about having broken the twelfth heart this week, or someone singing tediously about having just passed through the twelfth small town that reminds them of home doesn’t need an electric guitar to hammer the point home.
Cigarettes @ Sunset on “Forty Four Forty” need electric guitars because otherwise, they couldn’t tell you what they think of the world and what they’d like to do to it. There’s gallows humor here, the kind of humor spurned on by boredom. Cigarettes @ Sunset sound like friends who’ve spent their Summer days watching violent cartoons and taking that energy into the rehearsal space.
The Myriad – Signs
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
The Myriad turn tragedy into a musical accomplishment while finding the force to return to music after a significant time away.
Artists, for the most part, are tempted to try and create a way of distancing themselves from the hard realities of life. It only makes sense that they’d want to try and use their talents to create an alternative life. Here, they can make up the rules and make sure that the more unpleasant aspects of regular living are avoided.
Avoiding reality takes guts and discipline. However, facing it head-on and using it as potential material for your work is an act of even greater bravery. The ones that are able to take a step back and, once they’ve distanced themselves enough, provide an account of what it’s like to dangle from the edge and fall from it are the ones that create some of the most powerful art.
The Myriad’s modern-sounding indie-rock track “Signs” might feature pleasant-enough melodies and a streamlined arrangement, but it’s a track dedicated to tragedy. But there’s hope driving the song as well. The emotional vocals allow for a ray of shine to bleed through and for the hope that something better might be awaiting us all.
