Sophomore release long
overdue since 2009 debut.

 

By Blurt Staff

 

Cymbals Eat Guitars released their acclaimed debut album Why There Are Mountains in 2009, and
since then there have been a series of lineup changes. Currently the band is Brian
Hamilton on keys and Matthew Whipple on bass, plus original members singer/songwriter/guitarist
Joseph D’Agostino and drummer Matt Miller. In between extensive touring with the
likes of Bear in Heaven, Los Campesinos!, and The Thermals and European dates
with The Flaming Lips and The Hold Steady they’ve been plottin the followup.

 

In early 2011, the band settled down in Whipple’s basement
in New Jersey to finish writing the sophomore record. Rehearsing and recording
demos in a suburban home allowed for a lot of freedom the band hadn’t enjoyed
in the past. Shared Brooklyn rehearsal spaces had always meant long commutes,
scheduling difficulties, parking tickets. Decamping to the suburbs meant fewer
distractions and more time to explore the outer reaches of song structure and
melody, and to edit, reign in, and refine those same elements. That refinement
and clarity of purpose came in no small part with the guidance of producer John
Agnello, and together they set out to craft an album that re-contextualized the
band’s favored sounds and highlighted underexplored strengths.

 

Lenses Alien, the
result of these collaborative explorations, is an example of a band growing
into itself – learning to collaborate, becoming more confident. Why There Are Mountains was a record
that Joseph D’Agostino made largely on his own, with help from Matt Miller and
some other friends and acquaintances that came and went. Lenses Alien is a record that Joseph D’Agostino, Brian Hamilton,
Matt Miller, and Matthew Whipple made together, as a band.

 

They describe it as “a marriage of classic pop forms and
ambient haze that makes for a stark, dusky psychedelia… a  relentlessly complex listen that strikes a
balance between the archaic and the inviting and is as much a document of
doubts and contradictions as of irreverent joy.”

 

Well all right then!

 

The album is out Sept. 13 via Barsuk and the and will be
kicking off a US tour the following week.

 

09/20/11 Tue   
Boston, MA    Brighton Music
Hall*#

09/21/11 Wed   
Brooklyn, NY    Music Hall of
Williamsburg#

09/22/11 Thu   
Hamden, CT    The Space*#

09/24/11 Sat   
Washington, DC Black Cat*#

09/26/11 Mon    Chapel
Hill, NC    Local 506*

09/27/11 Tue   
Atlanta, GA    The Earl    *

09/29/11 Thu    New Orleans
LA    One Eyed Jacks    *

09/30/11 Fri   
Houston, TX    Fitzgerald’s
(Upstairs)*

10/01/11 Sat   
Austin, TX        Emos*

10/02/11 Sun   
Denton, TX    Dan’s
Silverleaf    *

10/04/11 Tue   
Tucson, AZ    Hotel Congress    *

10/05/11 Wed    San
Diego, CA    Casbah    *

10/06/11 Thu    Long
Beach, CA    Alex’s Bar    *

10/07/11 Fri    Los
Angeles, CA    The Echo    *

10/08/11 Sat    San
Francisco, CA    Bottom of the Hill*

10/10/11 Mon   
Portland, OR    Mississippi
Studios*

10/11/11 Tue   
Seattle, WA    Crocodile    *

10/13/11 Thu    Boise,
ID        Neurolux    *

10/14/11 Fri    Salt
Lake City, UT    Kilby    *

10/15/11 Sat   
Denver, CO    Hi Dive    *

10/17/11 Mon    Omaha,
NE    Slowdown Jr*

10/19/11 Wed   
Minneapolis, MN    7th Street    *

10/20/11 Thu   
Madison, WI    High Noon    *

10/21/11 Fri   
Chicago, IL    Lincoln Hall*

10/23/11 Sun   
Cleveland, OH    Beachland Tavern*

10/27/11 Thu    New
York, NY    Bowery Ballroom*#

 

*With Hooray For Earth

#With Biege