you should listen to... Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien
It’s a notch above the jugular, and since the vitals are in such peril, it’s no wonder that Cymbals Eat Guitars didn’t go for the kill when it comes to their newest, Lenses Alien. Their last album, Why There Are Mountains, ended with the line – “Like blood does from the faucets of pitch-black bathrooms during adolescent summoning rituals.”
At this point it’s safe to say that the band has burst forth from that teenage bliss, but are still walking around in a daze, trying to figure the next stage - young adulthood, where things should already be gelled together in a perfect mold, but still things seem ever so fragile and downright frightening.
Chasing those fleeting memories, whether it’s via drugs, relationships or the simple act of leaving your comfort zone, CEG fully embrace this theatrical sound, throttled back a bit but always hinting at something more under the surface – a subdued proclamation like Sonic Youth via their 1992 album Dirty. Where Sonic Youth cradled their lyrics until they were ready to be hurled at the listener, Cymbals Eat Guitars spew out words as though they’re burning up in the esophagus. Hints of band geekery seep through the string and percussion work, the jazz influences just a few beats later than the guitar timing. The lyrical melodies bounce off the walls with perfect rhythm, but at certain impasses in songs, like when the subject swings and the signature shifts, the arc of the words fall short and cut off, like a transmission from Patty Smith – both groups appreciate their keys as a lyrical partner, someone to continue the conversation, as opposed to just another instrument.
At times the topic swings from the mundane, like a scandal surrounding a politician, to the super natural, Plainclothes, where a portal opens and swallows all your shit. When CEG refer to the disaster it’s in reference to something you just want to laugh at, because it's so startling to be aware and alive at the same time. Lenses Alien is a very sharp object hurling through space and it’s coming right for you. It’s that moment where you’re leaving and arriving, the sonic landscape before you and yet something else is on the horizon, but you take their word for its true nature.
The band start their N. American tour in Boston and snake their way through these United States. Cymbals Eat Guitars play FOUR shows in California, including @ The Echo, Oct. 7.
