|Biography|
Cinematic music from Belgium with a particular taste for slow noises & beauties. The band can remind a bit of mogwai's music in its musical emotions & evolutions. Melting the influence of post-rock in a more ambiant way, the band has succeeded in creating a score for rainy mornings & windy sundays...
|Distribution|
Echoes from the attic (2005) - www.depot214.com (download + international order) - january 2008
Mountain tops are sometimes closer to the moon - www.depot214.com (download + international order) - january 2008 + cod&s distribution (France - Benelux) - 1st of february 2008
|Shows|
22/04/2005 - first gig in our birth place - Morlanwelz
26/11/2005 - festival Latex attitude - with Freaks, Monsoon
04/02/2006 - Mignault
25/02/2006 - Taverne du Théâtre - La Louvière - with Steels
19/05/2006 - La Renaissance - Binche - with Neko (fr)
17/06/2006 - Fêtes de la Musique - Houdeng
28/10/2006 - Post-rock night - Menen - with Salvador
08/11/2006 - Showcase Maison des Musiques - Bruxelles - with Jelly, Blue Velvet - Talkshop - Elvi's Ghettoblaster
11/11/2006 - Mouscron - with Guernica - Gasoline DC
23/02/2007 - Maison Folie - Mons - with Love is Love
24/03/2007 - Tremplin Autumn Rock - with The Von Durden Party Project
12/05/2007 - Ptit Théâtre - Verviers - with Steels
23/06/2007 - Campus Mouscron
13/09/2007 - Inside Out - Liège - with Love is Love
14/09/2007 - Pikke-Ma-Frack Festival - Puurs
27/10/2007 - Centre Culturel le Sablon - Carnières
02/11/2007 - Castrock Festival - Bièvre - with Amute, Taïfun, Orion
03/11/2007 - La Posterie - Courcelles - with Amute, De Portables, APSE
10/11/2007 - Kiwarock Festival - Manage - with Texas Trauma, Freaks, ...
26/11/2007 - Botanique - La Rotonde - Bruxelles - support iLiKETRAiNS
23/02/2008 - Festival Alter Ego - Soignies - with Metropolis, Hypnos 69, Khazma
23/02/2008 - Botanique - La Rotonde - Bruxelles - LA BOUTIK ROCK 2008
12/03/2008 - Centre Culturel - Braine-Le-Comte
14/03/2008 - La Taverne du Théâtre - La Louvière - with Ask!ng Sally
23/03/2008 - Le Belvédère - Namur - with Thot
09/04/2008 - Botanique - L'Orangerie - Bruxelles - support A SILVER MOUNT ZION
12/04/2008 - Dunk!Festival - Zottegem - with Doi, Guernica, God is an Astronaut, Tuxedo
03/05/2008 - PaCRocK Festival - Pont-à -Celles - with Kwoon, Monsoon, Girls in Hawaï, Attica,...
10/05/2008 - Negasonic Music Club - Alost - Consouling Sounds Night - with De Portables, Eye of Daw
04/06/2008 - Showcase Fnac - Gent
|Discography|
01/12/2005 - Echoes from the attic ep
produced by cecilia::eyes
recorded & mixed @ Studiobis - Beaumont - june, july & november 2005
special guest: Johanne Lovera (agent 5.1)
09/11/2007 - Mountain tops are sometimes closer to the moon lp
produced by cecilia::eyes
recorded by Joël Grignard (Monsoon) @ dEPOT214 - Brussels - august & september 2007
mixed by Pierre Vervloesem - Brussels - september 2007
|Merchandising|
|Press|
Despite having been a fan of their Belgian counterparts Sweek and Toman for years, Cecilia::Eyes had somehow escaped my radar until relatively recently. On perusing the bastion of impeccable taste that is otherwise known as my last.fm top neighbours list, one name caught my eye, a name that gave me an ever-so-slight feeling of déjà vu (presumably due to a brief encounter with their myspace site at some point): "CeciliaeyeS." It transpired that this account did indeed belong to one of the members of the band, and, with Mogwai, MONO, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Gregor Samsa and Yndi Halda all being present in his top 10…well, it would have been rude not to check out Cecilia::Eyes, really. Formed in 2004, Cecilia::Eyes released their debut EP Echoes From The Attic the following year. While not outstanding, it was easily worthy of one's attention and showed considerable promise. It's always nice when prognostications are fulfilled, because, quite frankly, debut album Mountain Tops Are Sometimes Closer To The Moon is a fantastically good release. I'm almost ashamed to admit that it took two or three plays of the album before being struck by this epiphany – but, like so many great albums, this one was definitely a grower. To my mind, Cecilia::Eyes is something of an MOR (should such a notion even exist yet in post-rock), formulaic, guitar-driven instrumental band. But then, many of the better releases of 2007 – by Caspian, Joy Wants Eternity, and Pg.lost, to name but three – were in much the same vein. There are quiet bits, there are loud bits, and there's not a hint of a brass or a stringed instrument – just good old-fashioned post-rock through and through. There are few new ideas in Mountain Tops are Sometimes Closer To The Moon, but, as I have stated before and will affirm here, originality and sheer listenability might be allied concepts but they are far from symbiotic. Tremolo-heavy album opener "Flags" and, to a lesser extent, "One Million Whales," strike me as being somewhat akin to what it might sound like if MONO played ambient cover versions of one of my favourite songs of all time, "Mogwai Fear Satan." "Clocks" and "Our Longest Winter" reveals a penchant for delay much like that heard in Gregor Samsa's "Young And Old" – another favourite of mine, by a quirk of good fortune. It doesn't come as much of surprise that MONO and Gregor Samsa are cited as influences on the band's myspace site; you won't find me complaining. Penultimate track "Peter Star My Father In Law's Secret" – at just under 12 minutes in length, the longest on the album – packs in plenty of punches with crescendos aplenty; I imagine this would make for a crowd-pleasing encore at live shows. The twist in the tale comes with final song "Farewell She Whispered," a hauntingly beautiful, piano-led tune, intermittently overlaid with tremolo-ing guitars. Quite unexpected, but very nice indeed. I'm sure Cecilia::Eyes would be the first to admit that they aren't the most original band on the planet. That doesn't bother me, though, and it sure as hell shouldn't bother you either. All-in-all, a magnificent debut from the Belgian quartet. Richard White - 10 janvier 2008 - www.thesilentballet.com
Après un premier EP particulièrement prometteur, Cecilia::Eyes passe au long format avec un album éblouissant serti de pépites post-rock à l’intensité mélodique incomparable. Un richesse rare et une maîtrise impressionnante, Mountains tops are sometimes closer to the moon, est sans doute l’un des chefs-d’--uvre musicaux de l’année en cours. A découvrir absolument. http://www.w-fenec.org/rock/ceciliaeyes.html
From the first tunes of this remarkable EP from Cecilia : Eyes, all is here: listening to all 5 songs in this album will lead us to the well-known countries where post-rock and energic tunes are leading everything, while the band perfectly and professionaly plays all instruments, without doubt. Music here is always close to a kind of violent and powerful tune, instrumental Mogwai-like explosions; and trying to play this kind of difficult music without becoming a place copy of the talentes Scottish band seems to be very risky in the first place. Of course, while listening to this EP, one can't but think of the comparison between both bands, because of similar guitar sounds and elaborated then complex rhythm sections; but as Mogwai music exploses after sweet and soft musical moments, Cecilia : Eyes rathers play a contained and never-imploding music, which prevent them from only copying this major influence in the way songs are composed and performed. All musical atmospheres are close to the edge, but never fall into it; thanks to their impressive musical talent, as for We vs. Death in the split EP published by Eglantine Records a few months ago, impulsions need to be contained and condensated, and music has to be suggested instead of exhibited. Thanks to aerial guitars, multiple sound effects which never overdub the entire music and tune of their music itself, the band plays songs which are always contained and on the razor's edge, while performing fast drums and hypnotizing guitars and bass lines, aloowing them to speak a unique musical language. And all of this works, without hesitation: the whole EP appears to be intellgently built, homogenic and never going the wrong way, and shows a band creating a personal and unique style. Each listener will also be allowed to share new experiences thanks to the sublime work of art ending the album; all in this song is like ethereal, incense smells and impressive musical rest on imaginary clouds and grass; nothing before let us imagine such a wonderfully atmospheric and extatic moment. Little by little, the band begins to know a certain success, and they really deserve it, as they play a music which has no frontiers; they are original, passionate, and more interestin than they first appeared to be...
Slug – Past All Concerns – 27 octobre 2007
Mountains tops are sometimes closer to the moon, derrière ce titre élégant se cache le premier album, au packaging particulièrement soigné, de Cecilia::Eyes, un groupe venu d'outre-Quiévrains qui avait déjà très agréablement surpris les amateurs de post-rock poétique avec Echoes from the attic, EP 5 titres où sa musique atmosphérique et onirique faisait jeu égal avec celle de Sweek ou Pillow voire Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ce qui n'est pas rien. Mais que dire d'autre sinon qu'en passant au long-format, Cecilia::Eyes est entré dans une autre dimension. Nous prenant par la main pour nous emmener dans un voyage aux confins de notre imaginaire. Traversant des contrées aux panoramas intemporels ("Flags"), bercé par des pépites post-rock céleste à la douceur infinie ("Too late for a porn movie", titre étrange pour un morceau à la finesse aussi éclatante), le jeune groupe belge use de ses charmes pour nous séduire et y parvient sans grande difficulté. Instrumentations feutrées, mélodies graciles et cotonneuses, harmonies rêveuses et ambiances doucereuses, sa musique nous traverse de part en part pour nous emporter dans des contrées inconnues, voisines de notre eden musical ("Shift/kill", "Song for Alda"...). L'idylle naissante entre l'auditeur et Cecilia::Eyes est irrémédiablement attisée par les guitares légères qui ondulent avant de prendre de nouveau leur envol et nous émerveiller par leur capacité à produire des compositions soyeuses et ennivrantes. Et ce n'est pas cette mélancolie pudique qui s'empare de Mountains tops are sometimes closer to the moon avec le subtil "One million whales" et son crescendo orgasmique qui va nous faire changer d'avis. Des nappes de guitares shoegaze qui s'embrasent soudainement dans une éruption de lave post-rock incandescente, des vagues musicales à l'intensité émotionnelle rare qui nous submergent, au contraire, le groupe semble emprunter un chemin que seuls des contemporains comme Sigur Ros ou Explosions In The Sky ont su silloner avant lui. Summum de cet album, "Clocks", tout en mélodies claires/obscures feutrées maniant l'épure comme aucun autre, parvient aux détour de quelques instants fugaces de magie pure, à créer un petit miracle sonique. Un moment d'apaisement absolu que Cecilia::Eyes se plaît à rompre avec le dynamique et plus volubile "Our longest winter". Ce, avant d'embrayer sur "Peter Star (my father-in-law's secret)", titre long d'une petite douzaine de minutes et qui adopte un format post-rock relativement classique d'un point de vue formel avant d'en repousser les limites pour en saisir la quintessence. Le résultat, empreint d'une certaine tristesse douce amère est aussi contemplatif que nostalgique. A l'heure de mettre un point d'orgue à son premier album, le groupe raccourcit le format en refermant son Mountains tops are sometimes closer to the moon sur les quelques 3'60 du sublime "Farewell she whispered". Trois minutes et soixantes secondes (c'est écrit ainsi sur le digipak) de musique dominée par un clavier envoûtant. Un morceau post-classique au piano, pas si éloigné de l'oeuvre de Debussy, qui instille une nostalgie douce et à fleur de peau dans une oeuvre fourmillant de subtilités et de pépites mélodiques aussi fragiles que précieuses...
Aurélio – w-fenec.org – décembre 2007