-=- SHGZ -=- * Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal * ARTIST..: Cigale ALBUM...: Cigale GENRE...: Psychedelic Rock STYLE...: Slow Stoner YEAR....: 2015 LABEL...: ENCODER.: LAME 3.98.4 -V0 TRACKS..: 7 BITRATE.: 236 kbps avg SOURCE..: CDR QUALITY.: 44.1kHz/Stereo SIZE....: 62.19 MB URL..: http://www.facebook.com/cigaleband/ - TRACKLIST 1 Grey Owl 5:53 2 Steeplechase 5:16 3 Feel The Heat 5:53 4 Random Day 4:49 5 Harvest Begun 3:54 6 Eyes Wide Shut 5:12 7 Pieces 5:46 Total Playtime: 36:43 It is a humble start in just about everything but its sound. Cigale's self-released, self-titled debut full-length is flush with gorgeous melodies, resonant soulfulness and an airy psychedelic sensibility that's prone to taking off in one direction or another but never loses itself completely or drifts farther from the song than it wants to. The Dutch four-piece craft an engaging sweetness throughout, the intertwining vocals of guitarist/keyboardist Romy Endeman, bassist Roel Imfeld and guitarist Rutger Smeets working fluidly to provide not only variety, but moments of engrossing richness no less lush than the guitar or bass tones. One might recognize Smeets or drummer Hans Mulders from taken-too-soon next-gen fuzz hopefuls Sungrazer, and Smeets' guitar retains its Gary Arce-worthy sound, but Cigale is a much different band with a much different dynamic, and what they're doing across the seven songs/37 minutes of their first album is immediately their own. You can draw a line from one otherworldly sensibility to another, but it's an easier and more satisfying listen to take songs like "Grey Owl," "Random Day" and "Eyes Wide Shut" as they are rather than trying to fit them somewhere they don't want to be. Endeman's strength as a vocalist makes her a major presence throughout — the Celtic flair she brings to "Eyes Wide Shut" over Mulders' far-back percussion and the subtle but building wash of cymbals, toms and guitars stands that song out as a highlight — and if a challenge before Cigale was establishing a personality of their own apart from what those who heard Smeets and Mulders' might expect coming into a new band featuring the both of them, then it's a challenge Cigale meet well across their self-titled's flowing, hypnotic span. They open quietly, with the fitting melodic hum that eases the listener into "Grey Owl," warm bassline from Imfeld and what sounds like brushed if it's not drumbeat from Mulders arriving as a precursor to the dreamy guitar tone and Endeman's vocals for the first verse. Her command is palpable immediately amid the echoing lines, but backed by Imfeld and Smeets, she is hardly carrying the song by herself. "Grey Owl" has an exploratory feel, lyrics repeating in the second half to lead the way into an open section of atmospheric guitar interplay and tom runs from Mulders, who flourishes in Cigale's quiet spaces as well as its louder moments, the track moving toward a still-understated apex that drops out to make way for one of the record's defining hooks in "Steeplechase," a somewhat moodier atmosphere emerging, but the tones remain bright as the vocals run through a processor at first then step out for a more forward, upbeat verse and chorus. Ultimately, the structures of the first two cuts are similar, but the impression they give is much different between vocal arrangements, general lushness and ambience, Cigale using their spaciousness and songwriting well to bring the listener into the album and not so much try to hold attention with cloying hooks as to slow everything down so that attention doesn't wander in the first place. The subsequent "Feel the Heat" might be the strongest piece included — it's also the longest at 5:54 — offering a particularly soulful progression with Smeets' guitar rumbling in a vast, open movement behind, the bass and drums tying the whole thing together so subtly that one almost forgets there is a build underway. Some improvised-sounding guitar weaving stretches out over an instrumental finish that's less crescendo than thematic exploration, and a few seconds' silence stands between "Feel the Heat" and "Random Day," the centerpiece of Cigale and its quietest, most contemplative-feeling moment. Percussion, which might be keyboard-programmed initially, is intermittent, guitars quietly noodling, bass minimal, cymbals washing every now and again, but Endeman's vocals croon over a quiet key line and that turns out to be more than enough to carry the soft flow of "Random Day," which picks up in the guitar, adds some background singing, but never comes close to the rhythmic push even of "Feel the Heat," which seems a world away about three minutes later. No matter how far out or spacious Cigale get, there seems to be one element responsible for providing the foundation — much to their debut's benefit, that element changes — and on "Random Day," it's the keyboard built upon, but "Harvest Begun," which follows, offers another shift. The shortest song on Cigale at 3:54 and arguably as close as the four-piece come to heavy psychedelia, it offers another album-defining hook and a satisfying lockstep of organ sounds and bass initially before opening its fluid motion and shifting into a wash, first of vocals, then lead guitar, coming to as much of a head as anything does across the record, but still ending quietly and giving way to the peaceful plucked notes, slide ambience, cymbal wash and percussion of "Eyes Wide Shut," a linear build playing out in probably the most direct a-to-b included, the earlier structural similarity cast off in favor of a more stark turn, Endeman and the backing vocals topping the ending with suitable, tasteful energy, leaving closer "Pieces" to develop that momentum and finish out the album with all the rhythmic swing of "Harvest Begun," but a more patient progression overall, unfolding through keys and guitar as the rhythm section sets the bed for the jam that winds "Pieces" to its last fadeout, the final statement of Cigale's Cigale finding a balance between catchy songcraft and (purposeful) instrumental meandering. The soothing atmosphere of that ending is as much easing out as "Grey Owl" was easing in, and it demonstrates the prowess either conscious or not of Cigale for creating an undercurrent of structure for their sonic expanse. As they continue to develop sound-wise, that's likely to act as the keys, guitar, bass and drums do throughout the tracks of Cigale — as a foundation from which absorbing, varied and colorful explorations are launched. For now, it serves as one of 2015's most promising debuts, and that seems like plenty to ask. -=- SHGZ -=- P.S. ** Thanks *** *** BCC FNT IPC SSR *** *** For Knowing Where The Music Is At *** --===-- ********************* * NuHS we miss you! * *********************