This Is Cinema

Obsessed with the pliability of recorded sound, Chicago band This is Cinema creates lush, vocal-driven pop while embracing the frayed edges of the recording process. Attempting to digest the constant meal of sensory overload in music, their debut EP Cycles finds cohesion in chaos, a distillation of sweetness and bitterness from layers of noise, tone and rhythm. The group took shape when songwriter Ben Babbitt invited engineer Theo Karon to move his recording studio into the basement of Hotel Earth, a Chicago coach house shared by a number of musicians and artists. The musician/engineer relationship quickly turned into a full-on collaborative songwriting and recording effort, frequently joined by an ever-evolving circle of contributors. Drawing upon a wide range of influences but overwhelmed by none of them, this record is like dance music undergoing an existential crisis, not willing to relinquish its humanity and yet wholly embracing the seductive sheen of modern technology. What ends up coming from the speakers is a bold statement from a group creating their own slanted version of today’s musical and cultural climate. This is analog music for the digital era, a tape loop staring longingly at the grid and trying to wrap itself around a drum machine. Cycles EP out now!!!