The smell of burning rubber and stale gas station coffee always feels like a promise when you’re leaving a town that never wanted you to stay and CinderKiss finds the perfect rhythm for that midnight getaway on Look Back. It starts with a jolt of electricity that feels like turning the key in a beat-up sedan and the music hits with a blunt-force trauma that only the best Alternative rock can manage. Forget the quiet contemplation of the bedroom pop era because this is a frantic heart-on-sleeve anthem for anyone who has ever looked in the rearview mirror and seen their past fading into a blur of taillights.
The guitars have a grit that reminds me of early Dischord Records releases because there is a raw and unvarnished quality to the production that refuses to play nice with the radio-ready polish of modern pop. You can feel the sweat on the fretboard and the desperation in the drum fills as they propel the story forward and the way the bass anchors the chaos feels like a physical hand on your shoulder telling you to keep driving. It is a massive wall of sound that borrows the jagged edges of Punk rock and softens them to let the melody breathe.
Look back look back what do you see? The lyrics are shouted with a rasp that suggests the singer is losing their voice or maybe they are trying to scream over the wind but either way the effect is devastating. It avoids the tired clichés of the genre by focusing on the physical sensation of the escape and the frantic Songwriting creates a sense of stakes that most major label acts would kill for. Every line feels earned and every repetition of the hook feels like another brick thrown through the window of a life you’re glad to leave behind.
At the 2:00 mark the whole thing threatens to fall apart in a glorious heap of feedback and crashing cymbals but CinderKiss pulls it back from the edge with a Power chord that rings out like a gunshot. It is a moment of pure catharsis that serves as the center of the storm and the way the vocals return with even more intensity proves that this artist knows exactly how to manipulate the listener’s adrenal glands. Most indie tracks lack this kind of structural courage and seeing an independent artist swing this hard is a thrill that never gets old.
By the time the final notes ring out you are left breathless and wondering where the hell this band has been hiding all your life. Look Back is a glorious reminder that rock music still has the power to make you feel like you can outrun your own ghost and it places CinderKiss firmly in the conversation with the greats of the Post-hardcore scene. It is a loud and messy and beautiful piece of work that demands to be played at a volume that ruins your hearing.
