Opener ‘peach to a peach’ talks about meeting James Oglethorpe, who Wikipedia reliably informs me was a British MP and founder of the colony of Georgia, and who Heck reliably informs me is probably a “fucking dork”. Then we get ‘waves’, a simple acoustic song about long hot summers and ‘Mikey’, which is all lazy little needly guitars. ‘For luck’ is a song about moving on from something or someone (“I know you’re right but I can’t forget her”), complete with echoey vocal effects reminiscent of Snow Mantled Love. ‘song for ari’ is a sweet song about watching a little relative grow up, “when my baby falls, she gets right back up / sun brings out her freckles, i stick ’em in my cup / doesn’t shed a tear when she falls, whispers ‘i love you too’ over phone calls”. ‘everyone I love’, which sounds like indie rock slowed to folk pace, with acoustic guitar and bursts of slapped drums and some really nice lyrics:

“i don’t believe in god but i still pray when i’m afraid
feels like i’m using him, or using faith, or something
anyway, i don’t write poems but i wrote one in my sleep and it goes,
‘everyone i love in walking distance from my home’
that’s what i pray for when i start to feel all alone”

‘Feels nice (a little more than alright)’ is a perfect bedroom love song, with very sweet lyrics (“go outside and look up at the sky, it looks right but I can’t see the stars at night so I think of the light in your eyes”), which then segues into a song about piling up cans (more on which in a little while). ‘what can be taken’ has slow and lolling electric guitars and vocals which appear and cut abruptly, giving the track a slightly surreal, fractured feeling. The lyrics address the postmodern paradox of love, the fear and pain of never having versus the fear and pain of losing, and eventually settles on the compromise of loving the people you do as much as you can for as long as possible:

“you can’t enjoy it, you’re always scared of losing it
what can be taken, the good that we clutch all more tight,
what can be taken
is always the good, warmer nights by your side
i’ll keep my love on my breath till i die”

‘The sit down, stay down’ reads like manic flowing poetry of the anxious (“every thought is a yearning when i sit down, i can’t stay / i get mad when i calm down, need a habit every day”), while ‘pile cans up to pass time’ is mostly gently picked guitars, and simple lyrics. The song has a cyclical nature, guitar line and lyrics circling around and repeating, perhaps as a symbol of things being stuck at a certain point, doomed to repeat until something dramatic breaks the pattern. The album then ends on the short and surreal ‘secret’, which has a wobbly, almost creepy sci-fi vibe and fuzzy vocals repeating the line, “we’ve got a secret they’re never gonna find out”.

Softer and dreamier than previous CBMC stuff, the album is  perfect to drift away in and allow the lyrics to take your mind places and feel things. ÒOR is out now on the CBMC bandcamp page.

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“The main strength of Heck’s songwriting is the sense of empathy she manages to create. Her sadness feels comforting but not in a cruel, schaudenfreude sense, but rather a sense of solidarity. Instead the sadness feels like a warm blanket, an old pair of slippers, something familiar and reassuring”

Heck and co. have a new EP coming this August. Details are currently scarce beyond the first track ‘For Luck’, a laid-back and ever-so-slightly mournful song about relationships and the accompanying heartache.

“I know you’re right but I know better,
I know you’re right but I can’t forget her”

Keep your eyes peeled for further information!

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There’s a fair bit of variation within this fuzzy emo loveliness. Opening track ‘thought you were better than that’ has shades of Kimya Dawson, while ‘pouring’ is reminiscent of Coma Cinema. The answer-phone love letter vocals on ‘drunk text romance’ bring to mind Daniel Johnston and ‘frozen yogurt is my favourite treat’ employs the help of the (presumably young) Ariana Heck to produce the finest tribute frozen yogurt you will hear all year.

The blurb on Bandcamp is a few words by the… uh… New York Times:

’“sounds like when shows or movies parody the whole “so sad indie/folk cafe” stereotype with really bad vocals, super basic instrumentals/song writing, and lyrics that amount to “im sad tfw no gf/bf so sad”

thanks new york times’

CBMC also released an album back in April called Milo the Dog Sees Colors, which is also very much worth your time. Listen to my favourite song from that below.

You can grab the albums from Bandcamp. Also be sure to check out the split release from CBMC and Adult Mom, I Tried to Run Away When I Was Six, and browse the Porcelain Veneers Esty store for CBMC-related arty goodies.

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