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Tuesday October 16, 2001
Cinematic
(Boo-the-Cat)
There's a certain type of drinking establishment that's typically hidden away on narrow back alleys or lonesome side streets. The patrons there aren't interested in conversation - they sit alone at the bar, hunched over their drinks with heads down. The room is dark, the bar's neon signs providing the only light. The mood is quiet. The bartender is accommodating, but not friendly. And the music on the jukebox sounds a lot like Chicago chanteuse Chiyoko Yoshida.
While Cinematic is Chiyoko's solo debut, her voice should sound familiar to indie rock fans; she has provided backup vocals on a host of recent releases, including Modest Mouse's LThe Moon and Antarctica. Moon producer Brian Deck also twiddles the knobs here, and both releases share a similar dark, moody quality. But this record is a far cry from Modest Mouse's stark indie rock; Cinematic is music for lonely nights, for tossing back bitter drinks at a lonely bar like the one described above.
On tracks like "More Than This," Chiyoko's raw, soulful vocals trade off with sliding strings and gloomy synth and piano lines for a noirish, minor-key sound that will be familiar to fans of Portishead, Goldfrapp or Cat Power. Other songs, like the rocking but somehow Cocteau Twins-reminiscent "Go On," bring indie guitars into the foreground but maintain the melancholy mood. This isn't a feel-good release, by any means. But neither is it a soundtrack for hopelessness - there's an underlying, hidden warmth here that keeps Cinematic from the brink. Lonely nights are a fact of life, but for most of us there's a brighter day tomorrow. Chiyoko seems to recognize that; Cinematic is dark but not depressed, down but not doomed.
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