Cheap Wedding’s Blazing Shoegaze Single “Skyscraper” is a Song About a Passionate But Doomed Romance

The image of blazing towers as structures built up to be impressive and housing important goods and information is central the Cheap Weddings’ “Skyscrapers.” The song seems to be about a love affair, a relationship, that isn’t good for either person. There are lines that seem to be about a fear of losing oneself in each other and how each person despite the attraction threaten each other’s very foundations rendering each other fragile and vulnerable but instead of that being a wonderful development that is conducive to true closeness and intimacy it’s corrosive and leads to moments of insecurity and pain. Without explicitly saying so the song suggests that some attractions are better left with some distance intact and go no further. The discordant synth, and angular rhythms of the song with the ethereally melodic vocals perfectly expresses this dynamic in that there is something beautiful in that tragedy and perhaps an irony in what might be two people who are too much alike for things to really work out the way they might have hoped. With contributions from Earl Harvin (touring member of Tindersticks), Ori Alboher of ORI and TJ Allen (who has done production work for Portishead and Bat For Lashes) one might expect something more downtempo or in the vein of trip-hop but this song is a short burst of noisy shoegaze glory. Listen to “Skyscrapers” on Spotify and follow Cheap Wedding at the links provided.

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The Album Leaf Pairs With Bat For Lashes to Imbue “Near” With the Warmth of Yearning Affection

The Album Leaf, photo courtesy the artist

Jimmy LaValle as The Album Leaf brings a real sound design and cinema score aesthetic to his tracks for the forthcoming album FUTURE FALLING (due out May 5, 2023). But he is able to transform the background and pure mood aspect of that form of songwriting into ambitious pop songs like “Near” which features Bat For Lashes aka Natasha Khan. The song sounds like the kind of tune you might write if you were trapped by winter snows in isolation and yearning for contact with someone for whom you have a deep affection. The sweep of textural drone in the background flowing with percussion that seems to move in the seemingly random manner of precipitation while highlighting Khan’s soulful and introspective warmth and gift for conveying an expansive and enveloping spirit. Listen to “Near” on YouTube and follow The Album Leaf at the links below.

The Album Leaf on TikTok

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The Album Leaf on Instagram

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