#closebutnocigar

Young rock band Close But No Cigar share a common devotion towards a new wave of rock, striving to combine the 70s hard rock with modern rock music of bands such as Nothing But Thieves, Foals and Biffy Clyro for a sound entirely their own. Coining their name from the American expression that indicates being close to achieving something but not quite reaching the goal, Close But No Cigar are a band bursting from the seams with desire to stand out and leave you thinking. Now releasing their latest single following the path of their debut EP ‘The Dance of Venus’, Close But No Cigar are back to share ‘Tokyo.’

Leading off with just a smokey reverberated riff, ‘Tokyo’ from the get-go lays dormant, soon adding quickly paced drum beats before bursting into a moment of volatile action. It’s not long before the first verse cuts this short though, constantly teetering between an aggressive in-your-face sound and one that’s tensely building at all times to keep you on your toes. As a deep bassline and steady drum beats complement the verses’ vocals, things for a moment feel slow, but the swift addition of an electric guitar riff brings us right back to the heightened energy ‘Tokyo’ pleads for. With an addictively good chorus that ties it all together, each instrumental hits at full force, bringing the volume and the power with every smashing drum beat, shredded riff and confidently sung line. Constantly coursing adrenaline through your veins, Close But No Cigar know how to keep you on the edge of your seat as they drag you through heart-racing moments of building sound and the most cathartic bursts of explosiveness. The vocals add just another layer of catchiness to a sound that’s unapologetically loud, with such a vigorous delivery it would perhaps be a challenge for most to keep up and complement such a dominant instrumental performance, and yet the vocals in ‘Tokyo’ are sung with a hint of hoarseness amidst a charismatic display of assertiveness. All wrapped up in three minutes worth of thrills, ‘Tokyo’ doesn’t waste a second of your time in giving you exactly what you want to hear - even if you didn’t know you needed it.

Using this gnarly tune to reflect upon deeper issues, ‘Tokyo’ is lyrically centred around the struggles one must endure to achieve a goal, particularly as society tends to suppress the opportunity for following dreams. With the end often seeming so far away, the band compare the experience to that of getting to Tokyo - a place across the world from them, with a number of hurdles in the way of getting anywhere. This ingenious extended metaphor makes for an incredibly unique journey, capturing striking lines like the mention of being ‘afraid of flight’ that on surface level seem relatively normal, but with deeper pondering capture the fear that comes with chasing a dream when failure seems possible at every turn. Also making nods towards how society has certain expectations for people to reach, timelines to be on parr with and typical routes to take, ‘Tokyo’ doesn’t shy away from also recognising the anxiety and strength needed to push through and chase a dream when the world around us often crushes those who take risks. Wrapped up in so much poignance, Close But No Cigar have captured a number of memorable lines that almost idealise the end goal despite the turbulent progression towards it:‘the way I see is pretty dark… we can’t be phased in Tokyo.’ Every line of ‘Tokyo’ is one you won’t want to miss, telling a tale with layers upon layers to unpack, or simply jam out to on its dominant surface.

Check out ‘Tokyo’ for yourself here to fully experience Close But No Cigar’s elaborate lyricism and their thunderous rock sound!

Written by: Tatiana Whybrow

Photo Credits: Jacopo Perinati