Cindy Lee, Freak Heat Waves, Now

Tues 4/16

Talent Moat presents

Cindy Lee, Freak Heat Waves, Now

8pm, $17 adv., $20 door

Cindy Lee

For Patrick Flegel, Cindy Lee is more than just a recording music project. "Singers like Patsy Cline and The Supremes carried me through the hardest times of my life," explains Flegel, "and also provided the soundtrack to the best times."

Following the dissolution of Canadian experimental indie band Women, Flegel would delve deeper into songwriting that bends further toward high atmospherics and bracing melodies – a unique space where splendor naturally collides with experimentation. Delivering moments of sheer beauty through somber reflections on longing and loneliness, Cindy Lee is something to hold onto in a world of disorder.

What's Tonight To Eternity, Cindy Lee's fifth long-form offering, showcases the project's most entrancing strengths: ethereal snowdrift pop and sly nods toward classic girl-group motifs. Recorded at Flegel's Realistik Studios in Toronto and featuring younger brother Andrew Flegel on drums, the album travels hand in hand with a spectral guide.

Flegel found inspiration for Cindy Lee in the form of Karen Carpenter, drawing on the singer / drummer's early recordings as well as her look and style. "I found a deep interest and comfort in Karen's story, which is a cautionary tale about the monstrosity of show business, stardom at a young age and being a misfit looking for connection. The darkness and victimizing tabloid sensationalism she suffered is easily tempered and overwhelmed by her earnest output, her artistry, her tireless work ethic. Something utterly unique and magical takes shape in the negative space, out of exclusion. What I relate to in her has to do with what is hidden, what is unknown."

What's Tonight To Eternity remains a mix of pop culture indoctrination, pain and suffering, hopes and dreams, fierce confrontations and wide-open confessional blurs. Closing with the song "Heavy Metal" (dedicated to the memory of former Women bandmate Chris Reimer) and adorned by Andrea Lukic's Journal of Smack artwork, the album continues the bold and rewarding path on which Cindy Lee has embarked.

https://cindylee.bandcamp.com/album/whats-tonight-to-eternity

Freak Heat Waves

"In the 13 years that Canada’s Freak Heat Waves have been making music, they have channeled a welter of influences: post-punk, shoegaze, dub, goth, Detroit techno, Japanese synth pop, German prog. Drop the needle at random on one of their records and you might be reminded of Black Dice or Gary Numan, Can or Tones on Tail, Seefeel or Brian Eno. Freak Heat Waves’ music represents not so much a style as a sensibility: druggy, unkempt, and a little bit dangerous, a souped-up ride whose wheels could fall off at any moment.

Until now, there was nothing in Freak Heat Waves’ catalog to suggest that the duo of Steven Lind and Thomas Di Ninno were capable of—much less interested in—making a song like “In a Moment Divine,” the standout on Mondo Tempo, their fifth album. Featuring guest vocals from their longtime friend and collaborator Cindy Lee (aka Pat Flegel, formerly of Women), it’s an almost shockingly sentimental offering from a group that has typically paired lumpy drum machines and oozing synths with a baritone drawl as gnarled and imposing as the trunk of a fallen oak. “In a Moment Divine,” by contrast, begins with a rosy blush of pads before kicking into an easygoing breakbeat house cadence. “The gates of heaven open with your smile,” sings Lee, and no matter how cryptic the details—is it a farewell to a lover? a tribute to a tragic figure?—the song’s emotional valence is unguarded and deeply affecting. Garlanded with production reminiscent of New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies, Lee’s high, wistful voice is faintly reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys, but there’s something idiosyncratic about it all—the melancholy silver-screen strings, maybe, or the way the parts feel Scotch-taped together—that transcends pastiche, or even homage. This isn’t the first time that Freak Heat Waves have sounded chill, but it’s the first time they’ve sounded so unabashedly beautiful.:” - Pitchfork

https://freakheatwaves.bandcamp.com/album/mondo-tempo

Now

Peeled from the dreamscape of your most (secret) aspirations, only to appear as an apparition of benefice made manifest before you. Three, there's that number, three magical personages intent on sharing joy and happiness, with the intention of bringing YOU to "that" magical state. Hannah, Ollie, and Will. 

https://slothmate.bandcamp.com/album/and-blue-space-is-burning-noon