Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
REALISTIK STUDIOS
Released March 29th, 2024
Listening to Cindy Lee feels like being in on a secret. The alter ego of Calgary artist and drag performer Patrick Flegel released their behemoth 2-hour long magnum opus only on their Geocities website and as a single YouTube video with no track breaks. Despite its shabby digs and non-existent promotion, Diamond Jubilee instantly rocketed its way into the indie zeitgeist, its immense stature cemented by the highest score Pitchfork has handed out since Fionna Apple’s perfect 10 in 2020. Shows are selling out quickly, many of them moving to much larger venues as every shabby 30-something guy you know trades in their beer money for concert tickets.
Diamond Jubilee ventures into diverse territories and is born from countless influences. Genres span the radio dial as Cindy Lee pulls from girl groups, surf rock, disco, synth pop, and psychedelia - all filtered through the fuzz of AM static. Most of it feels intensely nostalgic, but never stale. Many of the sounds of the not too distant indie rock past are robbed of their clarity and show up as if they are gently whispered wails. Cindy Lee’s conceptual instincts are equally matched by their unassuming technical ability; they are a certified shredder. Howling guitars cry and moan, stacked on top of each other deliciously out of time like a haphazardly layered cake. It sounds as if there were a long hallway with a different instrument playing from each office, some of the instruments so far away that they can’t help but lag behind the rest.
Despite the nostalgic underpinnings of Diamond Jubilee, Cindy Lee is unique unto themselves; but their vocal stylings are most reminiscent of the airy falsetto sounds of the Chicago band Whitney. Matched with strained wails from fuzzy guitars and blown-out drums, it becomes a shimmering swamp of lo-fi textures. At such a hefty runtime, it inevitably washes over you and few songs stand out once you’ve digested them all, but Cindy Lee embraces that idea by uploading the entire album as a single, uninterrupted YouTube video. Grooves come and grooves go, storms give way to calm waters before electricity fills the air once again. While you may not remember one particular moment, you will remember how it all made you feel.
I don’t remember this much enthusiasm for an indie album in many years, especially one as idiosyncratic as Diamond Jubilee. But the initial hype suggests that it could land amongst the greatest indie albums of all time. It is also notable any time an artist with such a staunch outsider ethos is able to make waves this big in the industry. Only time will tell if Diamond Jubilee will cling to our memories beyond the best-of-the-year lists. I, for one, hope we’ll be talking about this one for years to come.
- Clay Geddert
