Given that their eighth album, Cigarette promises to be “a score for our current age of decay and disappointment, fear and fury, idiocy and hope,” this first taste is understandably a suitably beguiling and mercurial beast. “The Shot” might begin life in a strange, angular, slow-burning place but as it travels towards its final destination, it gradually adds all manner of additional warped tones, robotic textures, raw layers, and raucous additions.
Beats build, guitars coalesce into more riff-orientated sounds, additional vocals blossom and join the throng, and after a brief pause for breath, the song plunges us into its scintillating second sonic act, one that is more driven and groovesome and captures a taste of that post-punk, latent funk that worked so well for bands like Talking Heads. Soon, we find ourselves propelled towards a scuzzy, psychedelic-surf crescendo, a slight arabesque, and artistic explosion before the song finally fades out into the night.
The message here is also one that appeals to me, musing on the idea that Generation X, of which I am a part, has consistently undersold itself, perhaps a reaction to the overly ambitious Boomers that raised us, whose rules we are still forced to live by, as are those who have come after us. Damn them!
It is an excellent and challenging song with a relatable and rebellious message. Totally my kind of thing!
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