Find Out is slower and has more of a swing than that brilliant first single, If It Ain't Broke, which has been out almost a month now. And what a hectic first week that was. I have not been that closely involved with a record release before and the pace of it, the excitement, the thrill of the chase, was addictive. I had dopamine running down the walls and ruining the carpets. They had to be professionally cleaned.
It was exhausting for me and I had a peripheral involvement at most. CW loved it of course, and she deserves the success it has already found. I loved that song immediately. Can I separate the woman from the music any longer? Maybe not, maybe not. I don't think we need to. This is such authentic material that the two blend and fuse in harmony.
I'm so familiar with this song now but listening again, you realise the tune itself is deep and rich. I spend so much energy listening for lyrics that I sometimes forget how good the music is. It is perfectly suited to Cyrena's voice: it is the colour of black coffee, no milk, cream or sugar. Just add hot water. Very hot. Steaming hot.
If it's my heart you're breaking
F**k around and find out
After quite a few listens, I found myself thinking of an all-time classic. Blueberry Hill by Fats Domino has a similar sort of swing and vibe to Find Out. This is all to the good. Although there are no fucks in Blueberry Hill, I can reassure you: CW's brilliant new tune has quite a few. She's threatening, she's angry. He's cheating all around town, breaking her heart at every turn. She has confidence: you don't let a girl like me down. The implication being she is quite the catch. Well, do you disagree?
I am happy to report that although this is authentic music in every direction, CW is not unhappy in real life any more. I saw the enormous bouquet that arrived for her on release day for If It Ain't Broke. She's doing well. And was that her pool in the background? Nobody has a pool where I come from. You would freeze your tits off 11 months out of any 12. Even Betty Jo (the El Camino truck obvs) is back from the refurb people looking spick and span. God I hope her guy has listened to this stuff. None of us want his balls bobbing in a jar on her heaving shelves. Look:-
It was a saloon in Memphis, Tennessee somewhere around 1953. With a bow in her hair and centuries of fire in her heart, she was real smart. But Mr Big, of course, he thought he got away with it, he thought he was real slick. That mother finally met his match the day that woman snapped.
The above is delivered as a spoken word tale. The way she times "mother finally" makes you expect "motherfucker" in a genius little trick. It is clear the man's neck snapped shortly after his lover's patience.
Since Cyrena posted that photo of herself in the bath, I have found it very hard to remain objective. I watched all of her interviews and did all of my research before that very first piece. Therefore I know how much she has worked to get herself to this point. Even her dog has a wonderful name. Grizzly June has no noticeable issues but how would you know?
Cyrena is on Substack now. I hope my tiny sort of non-mansplainy encouragement in that direction had some effect. [Only mansplainers say this sort of thing. Ed.] I gather from her first post that the work to show up and deliver is a work in progress. As an artist that work is never done it just morphs and squirms and slithers around every day. You can't nail it to the wall like a man's hand.
I think that is my final point: that CW has put everything into this new album that is slowly shimmering into view from the heat haze on the highway. The album Vanity Project was not her first rodeo but putting yourself in the spotlight as a solo artist is a completely different prospect. She has to run the whole business side of things herself and still deliver musically.
The thing about Cyrena is that she is deadly serious about her music. She works hard on writing the tunes, days and weeks in the studio, on the marketing and distribution, in the gym, doing the yoga practice. (Although she does have the most beautiful yoga teacher in the western world.) Cyrena has enormous stage presence and could easily hold a Wembley crowd. She puts in all the hours. I know she has the demons from those beauty pageants. But the overriding feeling I get from her new album is joy. She is absolutely, completely funny. The tunes are well-written, I still find her lyrics good enough to stand on their own as poetry, and the tunes bang. All of them bang. There is never a misfire. To do all this and still keep it funny takes bravery and courage.
I know how much she relies on her publicist Sophie Baldwin. This could be the perfect match. They just need me to help them take a step back and explain the little details they cannot see because they are too swept up in the moment. That is how it should be. The further away I am from any kind of human presence, the happier I am. How can I know all this when I have never set foot in Tennessee? That is precisely the reason.
Just a reminder that you need to save and stream Find Out IMMEDIATELY because there's another one of these coming in a month and you're going to love that too!
Postscript
Conversation as I was walking out of the movie, Sinners. This just demonstrates the depth of CW's network in Memphis, which also has some nice food options if you feel like visiting. (Savannah Brister told me to try Farm Burger in Crosstown Concourse but you have to wait another week for her album and other food recs right here.)
ME: Consider going to watch Sinners. It's A1 man. Lola!
CW: I think the music was done by my friend Boo.
ME: WHAT?! Boo who?
CW: Lawrence Boo Mitchell. Royal Studios. Memphis. My dude.
ME: #nowords
