mp3: "Barf Day" - Diet Cig

words: Jordan Gorsuch

Does any band working today combine saccharine wit with fiery angst quite like Diet Cig? The easy-going duo released a heart-stopping EP Over Easy in 2015, a collection of razor-sharp tracks bursting with frantic energy and infallible charm. The band is effortlessly enjoyable, endlessly quotable, and their anthemic songs always bring a smile.

So it is with much joy that I can say that Diet Cig have absolutely delivered on all of the promise of their previous releases with the second single from their upcoming full length debut album, Swear I'm Good At This, out 4/7. "Barf Day" is a melancholic reflection of turning 21 and the pains that come along with it. Making friends gets harder when you grow older - generally, humans mask oddities about themselves the older they get (and more socially "aware") because it can be scary to put yourself out there. Singer/guitarist Alex Luciano knows this plight all too well as she bitterly celebrates her new-found adulthood alone with a stiff drink.

Twee-pop-inspired guitars and Noah Bowman’s fire-starting percussion drive the track as Luciano spins Tumblr-worthy quotes set to an effortlessly alluring melody. “Just like my plants / Can’t keep anything alive,” she reveals. “I’m sick of being my own best friend / Will you be there in the end?” Luciano is almost disarmingly honest as she pines for her halcyon days of surprise parties and eating ice cream on her birthday. She's not being immature - she's just being honest.

When that final chorus kicks in with the force of a sledgehammer, Luciano yells "I know that you're sorry but I just don't care." The guitar erupts with a fury and the fist-pumping drums detonate beneath Luciano's duet with herself: "Blow the candles out and wish all of my pain away."

Ahh...simpler times.