EP Swan Lake

Despite being a San Franciscan, Cindy sounds a lot like a legendary New York band: the Velvet Underground. Or, actually, a Velvet Underground song in particular, “Candy says', which opens the band's self-titled album from 1969. 'Candy Says' is a quiet song, beautiful and simple, with Lou Reed whispering about transgender actress Candy Darling. “Candy says, 'I've come to hate my body and everything it requires in this world.' Consuming something so delicate can be a difficult experience. Too much beauty can be overwhelming. Maybe that's why they didn't write many songs like this. “Soft Blue Eyes”, maybe, but this song ends with a joke. There is nothing funny about “Candy Says”.

So imagine if “Candy Says” had been the beginning of a new genre, if the band hadn't followed boring songs about heroin and infidelity and instead made small but bright music. This is the path Cindy has mapped out, connecting 2024 to 1969 through a dreampop portal in the sky. Cindy's songs are short and sweet, with emotion first and song structure second. Who cares about a chorus when the mood is so divine? Cindy uses more than the bare essentials, namely the hushed voice and guitar of singer-songwriter Karina Gill. Their previous excellent LP, 2023 album/why-not-now” class=”external-link” data-event-click=”{"element":"ExternalLink","outgoingURL":"https://cindytheband.bandcamp.com/album/why-not-now"}” href=”https://cindytheband.bandcamp.com/album/why-not-now” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Why not now?had moments of full band attack, with drum fills and rhythm organ, the sounds of Motown filtering through the fog. But Swan Laketheir best release, is improved through removal. There is very little percussion on the EP, a tambourine here and there, an occasional egg beater, a wet snare. Nothing flashy is needed. You really don't need anything.

Well, that's not exactly true. They just achieve so much with so little. Gill's voice is heavenly and she plays guitar with the airiest of strums. This cute rock sound is having an extended moment in San Francisco, with Cindy fronting a group of bands with often interchangeable players (Flowertown, Violent Change, Now and Sad Eyed Beatniks are among the groups that share members with Cindy). . Although short, at 17 minutes and six songs, Swan Lake is the best statement of the scene. The EP opens with “All Weekend,” a mid-tempo song with a slow guitar line, pounding bass, and an almost comical staccato tambourine jangle. It sounds like what a '60s girl group might have wanted to sound like before Phil Spector entered the picture. Many of the songs sound stripped back so much they almost feel like demos for something else, but the kind of something else that ruins a perfectly good stripped-back demo. “The Bell” is the best song on the EP, perhaps because it's the saddest. Her lyrics, slippery and cryptic, show sadness and terror. “Oh, I know what you meant now/I see his signs everywhere, like the wheels turning fast on our slow ride through the straight world.” The way she sings, “Oh I know,” without much enunciation, it's like it's one long, sad word. On this song, as on four of the six tracks on the EP, Gill is paired with the backing vocals of Staizsh Rodrigues, who add a layer of warmth. Together, their combinatory harmonies make the songs sound like lullabies.

Of the two songs in which Rodrigues does not appear, one is an instrumental. the other, Swan LakeThe title track of the EP, is the end of the EP. It sounds particularly lo-fi, and Gill talks instead of singing. If there's another Velvet Underground moment that 'Swan Lake' remembers, it might be 'The Murder Mystery,” a song where both Reed and drummer Maureen Tucker talk about each other. But where this song's intention is confusion, “Swan Lake” offers only absolute clarity. You can hear the moments when Gill's lips meet. Occasionally, she doubles her voice, but instead of repeating herself, the second Gil appears uncharacteristically a split second behind the first, as if trying and failing to finish her twin's sentences. The guitar plays the same bittersweet riff, up and down, soft, like untying a ribbon. The words are enticing and strange. “I saw the nuns on the bus again today, now and in our hour of need.” Like liner notes for a Godard film that never was. Slyly, Gill's lyrics refer to the Stooges album Raw power. This is a classic Cindy band unlike anything else. But raw power is definitely what they wield.