The title track to Cici Arthur’s debut album Way Through (released via Western Vinyl on February 21, 2025) has an easy pace to it like some kind of lounge pop song from the 1960s. But the production and quality of sound is more modern even if the sensibilities of the song suggest something more resonant across time. It’s a song written from the perspective of someone who has had a lot of life experience and is used to finding inspiration and creative stimulation just going through life and stumbling into it. Which is a function of being new to all kinds of experiences. But the song’s lyrics suggest a more deep world weariness and one that hangs heavy on most people now as so many things that are shallow and hyper marketed compete for and in fact are pushed into our attention and thus consciousness. But we have an underlying sense of it being utter nonsense. At least if you’re a thoughtful person that craves deeper experiences at least once in awhile. But when so much pressure is put upon to create fluffy content that has no real depth of thought or feeling much less creativity behind it, the cultural creations to which we have access can be watered down and when we’re being manipulated to be distracted and unsatisfied and or satisfied with a temporary dopamine hit the world can seem flat and low key hopeless. The songwriters seem aware of this phenomenon of modern life on a profound level and yearn for a path through this period and this haze that is weighing down the ambient human energy level. The song also hints at a personal revelation that often what we expect can warp our perception of how things are and may blind us to something we’re actually looking for but our ways of seeking are outmoded and the way we’ve conditioned ourselves might be ditched in favor of newer ways of being and seeing. And yet it’s hard to start over and this song’s tone in its downtempo fashion in a classic pop mode honors the humanity of wanting to find something to stir the imagination without having to toss out what you’ve already built up in your mind. Watch the video for “Way Through” with its vintage landscapes, human and otherwise, on YouTube and follow the members of Cici Arthur on their social media accounts linked below as well as find ordering information for the record on Western Vinyl’s website also linked.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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