Words by Jason Lee
Cover photo by Derek Farr
From the moment the opening moments of “Up” hits your tympanic membrane you known yr in for quite a ride and no that wasn’t mean to be a reference to first-wave Oxford, UK–based shoegaze band Ride but it could’ve been seeing as Philly, PA-based neo-shoegaze band Cigarettes for Breakfast are likewise purveyors of an immersive Wall of Sound sound built on a tsunami of undulating sonic frequencies likewise adventurous in pushing at the boundaries of the shoegaze genre while still fulfilling its core tenets and as it turns out the opening track of their Join the Circus LP is called “Up” for a reason…
…cuz lyrically “Up” appears to be all about holding onto hope even as “time creeps by” and “fear is here” with each stanza concluding with an assurance that “I’m going up…keep going up…only up” as delivered in suitably breathy-hazy-shoegazey style by vocalist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Matt Whiteford repeating and elongating the monosyllabic title phrase as the melody keeps spiraling up and up and up into the stratosphere…
…which is a clever twist in a sense seeing as the very name shoegaze is all about looking down as in literally gazing down at one’s shoes while playing music whether due to a non-typical-rock-star level of shyness (we love you Bilinda Butcher!) or due to needing to keep one’s eyes on the plethora of effects pedals used by your average shoegaze guitarist or bassist and when first used in the late ’80s UK music press the term was used as a less-than-flattering pejorative making light of the alleged anti-showmanship of bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Swervedriver and their avoidance of typical guitar hero theatrics…
…but you won’t catch Cigarettes for Breakfast staring at their feet too much for while they’ve clearly mastered the psychedelic Stygian swirl that serves as the genre’s hallmark, submerging the senses in a dense vortex of fuzz, delay, and reverb, at the same time their music is highly melodic and they’re not afraid to play in a major key either which is why—at the risk of overstating things but hey this article needs a good pull quote—we’re gonna dub their music “shoegaze meets sunshine pop”…
Photos by Alex Ayabe
…which also applies to the sunny, surf–rock–reminiscent harmonies heard on some of their tunes and if there were ever another TV show made along the lines of such classic “TV Land” sunshine-pop-themed escapist fair as The Partridge Family, The Monkees, or The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (!) the network heads would do well to approach Cigarettes For Breakfast with a series pilot where they play a marauding band of wacky marauding shoegazers forever finding themselves in the midst of one crazy predicament after another…
…but anyway it’s just this push-and-pull between seemingly antithetical elements that makes C4B’s music particularly compelling or it does for this listener anyway as heard on the LP’s subsequent title track (see above) alternating between gently quivering dream-pop verses (I’m at war / with reality) and pulverizing choruses built on a sturdy melodic hook but with phaser pedals set to stun where it sounds like someone left their vinyl edition out in in the direct sunlight for too long resulting in note-bending, vertigo-inducing, whammy-bar-abusing warp & woof like one of Salvador Dali’s melting clocks in sonic form and lyrics that correspondingly inquire “have you seen / have you seen my / pink elephant?”…
…and so it goes on subsequent tracks with titles like “Joyride” (“here I am / I’ve come to take you / where you want to go“), “Drifting,” “Glowing,” “Who Cares,” “Hollywood Daydream” (listen close and follow me / to where the grass is green“), “Words of Encouragement,” “We’re Alright” and so on tho’ there’s also a track called “Defeated” that’s as downcast as the title suggests but still from where we’re sitting this is an album designed to take you higher and indeed it does just that and if that ain’t enough we have something to make your day even more sunshiney and that’s the news that Join the Circus has been re-released just today (did we forget to mention the album first came out back in July?!?) in a brand new de-luxe edition with FIVE never-before heard tracks appended at the end so be sure to check out the BTS details below!
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Notes on JOIN THE CIRCUS kindly provided by Matt Whiteford…
Current membership:
Matt Whiteford: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Synth, Drum Machine
Martin Buechler: Bass
Tony Rossi: Drums
Album Details: Join the Circus, the debut album by Cigarettes for Breakfast, is a deeply personal and introspective
journey of the ups and downs through the “circus” of life. After years of dedicated work, lost friendships, and
financial sacrifices, Matt Whiteford poured his heart and soul into this record with the intention of reaching out to
others who might share similar experiences and emotions. Join the Circus tells the story of a lost soul navigating
the unpredictable twists and turns of existence, capturing moments of self-discovery, self-doubt, self-confidence,
love, and loss.
The album was recorded and produced by Matt Whiteford at the Hatch Studio, acoustic drums recorded
by Nik Bruzzese at The Gradwell House, it was mixed by Jeff Zeigler, and mastered by Ryan Schwabe. It was written by Matt Whiteford, Donnie CoCo, Tony Rossi, and Cameron Kynett. Vocals are performed by Matt Whiteford and
Donnie CoCo. All instrumentation by Matt Whiteford except for acoustic drums by Tony Rossi.
DELUXE ALBUM LINER NOTES: The Deluxe version of JTC features an additional 5 unreleased B-sides and demos.
“Pretend (Demo Version)” is included because of its stark contrast to the studio version. The song was originally intended to be very mellow and the song took on a new form when we recorded the final drums at The Gradwell House in New Jersey.
“It Happened Again” was one of the first songs started, and the last finished through the process of recording Join the Circus. The drums were recorded in a Philadelphia basement on the same day as “The Sun”. However, the vocals were not written or recorded until after Join the Circus was finished being mastered.
“The Sun”. This is the only song ever written and performed in the studio by all five members of our 2020-2022 live band.
“Accordion at Tony’s House”…..don’t hurt yourself thinking about this one.
“Until My Last Breath” was played in an interactive art installation at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York during Pride Month in 2021. It was originally supposed to be the last track on Join the Circus. It did not fit on the length of the vinyl record and was cut from the tracklist. The tracklist for the last three songs on Join the Circus should have read; “Pretend” “Everything’s Alright” “Until My Last Breath”
