Philadelphia-based band Cigarettes for Breakfast embrace bedroom-project origins with their excellent colour wheel EP, a follow-up to their acclaimed 2025 sophomore LP Slow Motion. Founder Matt Whiteford spent three years crafting these seven tracks, experimenting with tape speed and reverse effects to achieve a psychedelic, fuzzed-out immersion. This Abandon Everything Records release consumes with a mixture of both soaring guitars and understated dreaminess, echoing the emotive essence of DIY shoegaze and dream-pop.
The EP’s title track opens with a delectably hazy ambience, achieving a droning, shoegaze-y charm as subdued vocal hints meld seamlessly within the gauzy, pulsating effervescence — with added brightness as organs/keys adorn the second half. The mix enjoyably resembles Spiritualized’s psych-ready efforts. The next track, “melting” succeeds with a blaring immediacy instead — opting for upfront, twangy guitars and a more familiarly inviting dream-pop and shoegaze intertwining. The bursting guitars and backing rhythmic strums recall My Bloody Valentine here, continuing a fantastic start to the EP.
The quality songwriting doesn’t let up throughout the release. Another standout, “flowing” dazzles with its whirring guitar tones and submerged vocal dreaminess; the contrast between expressive guitar drones and beautifully lethargic vocals compel and traverse into a fluttery, spacious outro. EP finale “swallowed alive” also succeeds, moving initially with steady acoustic strums that echo a psych-folk entrancement. “I’m hanging by a thread,” the affecting vocals let out, maneuvering impactfully with heartrending emotion as the acoustics clang gorgeously. Full of dreamy moods and melodic power, colour wheel is a blissfully immersive success of an EP from Cigarettes for Breakfast.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
