Following their well-received self-titled debut album in 2014, Ancient Cities returns to bring us Supermoon Blackout, out 7/1 and available to pre-order now. After being invited to play Newport Folk Festival in 2015 by Converse, the band began recording at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio in Boston and Sioux Sioux Studio before taking the record to frontman Stephen Warwick’s home studio to wrap up. What emerged is both raw and organic in the ways you’d expect and enjoy from and fuzzed out rock album like this.
They’ve expanded on a sound that is lively, warm, angsty, and ferocious, and the new addition of organ/synth sounds have only added to the party. Supermoon Blackout will have you swooning, dancing silly, jumping around wildly, or nodding your head and tapping your steering wheel from one song to another. The band is putting one foot in front of the other along the road of psychedelic folk rock laid before them. Each stone placed with road-tested material has landed them features in Vanity Fair, The Village Voice, as well as live video sessions with Paste Magazine and Live & Breathing. Creatively and otherwise, Ancient Cities is following this road to success- polishing their evolving tastes but not straying far from their fuzz rock n’ roll, psyched out pop roots.
Songs like “Sunburn” take you back to the swooning melodies and harmonies of 60’s rock ‘n’ roll, while “Actress” is an instant party starter. “Midnight” gives you a sense that you’re coming back to life- or realizing that somewhere along the road you lost yourself and just noticed you’re back. “Marmalade” captures the essence of the album musically as an ode to getting lost in rock n roll textures, swooning vocals, and a fuzzed out guitar solo.
Warwick gained acclaim in 2010 with his solo album Talking Machine, receiving local notice as best song-writer and landing on Shuffle Magazine’s top 10 list for albums of that year. Ancient Cities became his new musical outlet that gave him freedoms to break out from lofi alt-folk and pick up an electric guitar with no reservations or apologies. This shift in perspective brought about some foot-stomping rock n’ roll that comes from a thoughtful desire to move you. Supermoon Blackout is the kind of music that beckons you put down your cell phone to just dance, listen, or watch.
Supermoon Blackout
Track List:
1. Marmalade
2. Phases
3. Sunburn
4. Luck
5. Time Traveler
6. Supermoon Blackout
7. All Rise
8. Actress
9. Midnight
10. Sorceress
11. Losing My Mind
Musically Amusing 