Head under the surface of NO CIGAR’s third album

"Close but no cigar" does not apply to this slinky selection of songs.

You would be forgiven if you thought you were listening to Fontaines DC when you hit play on New Zealand five-piece NO CIGAR’s third LP Under The Surface.

NO CIGAR – Under The Surface

Label: Independent

Release: Out Now

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 The titular track is dreary, dragging, and unenthusiastic – just how it was intended. If you know NO CIGAR, you know there is a classic, effortless coolness to their music. Relaxed but refined. But ‘Under The Surface’ has the grit of the grunge era, droning in the end in similar fashion to the ‘Hello, hello, hello, how low?’ of Nirvana.

‘Clean’ pulls you back into the slinky sways of NO CIGAR’s signature sound; the bouncing beats, reggae inflections of Willy Ferrier, the swirls of guitar, and the steady grooves. That delicious delivery is heightened on ‘Chantilly’, ‘Russian Roulette’, ‘Cherry Bloom Girl’ and the deeply infectious ‘Merci Merci’. Morris makes a case for lots of licks on ‘Mary Jane’ and its hypnotising. 

An inconspicuous gem on the album is ‘Oh Behave’ – it’s dreamy and a subtle showcase of less is more. ‘Ketamine’ is a culminating closer, smoky and slapping.  

Give No Cigar’s Under The Surface a listen here.