Cigale - Cigale (2015)

First album by Cigale, a Dutch band that loves atmospheric sounds, some jumps into heaviness and back again, playing from the heart and hoping to touch yours.

The shortest song on Cigale at 3:54 and arguably as close as the four-piece come to heavy psychedelia, it offers another album-defining hook and a satisfying lockstep of organ sounds and bass initially before opening its fluid motion and shifting into a wash, first of vocals, then lead guitar, coming to as much of a head as anything does across the record, but still ending quietly and giving way to the peaceful plucked notes, slide ambience, cymbal wash and percussion of “Eyes Wide Shut,” a linear build playing out in probably the most direct a-to-b included, the earlier structural similarity cast off in favor of a more stark turn, Endeman and the backing vocals topping the ending with suitable, tasteful energy, leaving closer “Pieces” to develop that momentum and finish out the album with all the rhythmic swing of “Harvest Begun,” but a more patient progression overall, unfolding through keys and guitar as the rhythm section sets the bed for the jam that winds “Pieces” to its last fadeout, the final statement of Cigale‘s Cigale finding a balance between catchy songcraft and (purposeful) instrumental meandering. The soothing atmosphere of that ending is as much easing out as “Grey Owl” was easing in, and it demonstrates the prowess either conscious or not of Cigale for creating an undercurrent of structure for their sonic expanse. As they continue to develop sound-wise, that’s likely to act as the keys, guitar, bass and drums do throughout the tracks of Cigale — as a foundation from which absorbing, varied and colorful explorations are launched. For now, it serves as one of 2015’s most promising debuts, and that seems like plenty to ask.