(Photo by Emily Dubin)
They’ve been compared to tornadoes, firecrackers, and lightning storms, and described as genuine, unapologetic, and down-to-earth. And today Alex Luciano and Noah Bowman of gutsy rock duo Diet Cig are excited to announce the forthcoming release their sophomore full-length, Do You Wonder About Me? on May 1 via Frenchkiss Records. They are also happy to share the newest single off the LP, lead track “Thriving,” and note, “Thriving” is a cathartic, campy release of feelings. Its about the duality of absolutely THRIVING without someone but also desperately wanting them to notice you doing so. Inspired by the melodrama of reality TV and musical theater, we wanted the song to bounce back and forth between a lavish personal anthem and the anguish of feeling forever beholden to others opinions.”
Pre-order Do You Wonder About Me? here.
“Thriving” is the follow up to last month’s “Night Terrors” which was included on NPR’s “All Songs” broadcast week of release. Stereogum proclaimed it “quite a comeback” further noting, “the real powerhouse of this track is the drums, which launch the atmosphere headlong into weightlessness...meek vulnerability in the daintiness and girlishness of the vocals add an irresistible sweetness.” Uproxx included the song in their “best of the week” and said "with their signature powerful guitar chords and crashing cymbals, ‘Night Terrors’ gives fans a look into the band’s new era."
Diet Cig’s live shows are a whirlwind of belting and high-kicks, their pure energy as yet unmatched. The band have confirmed their first set of North American and UK dates in support of the new album and the first U.S. show is on May 14 in Philadelphia. The band will also play Brooklyn and Chicago before the run concludes in Charlottesville, VA on June 6. They have just confirmed a new set of dates in October that kick off October 3 in Pittsburgh, PA ending in Los Angeles, CA on October 22. Tickets for the newly announced shows will go on sale Friday, March 6 at 10am local time. All dates are listed below.
Do You Wonder About Me? Is the follow-up to 2017’s Swear I’m Good At This. The new record marks a more intentional, self-assured Diet Cig; not only in Luciano’s radically intimate, acerbic lyrics, but in the duo’s sound as well. Luciano and Bowman moved to Richmond, VA in the summer of 2017 as a place to “hide out and make music,” and it was there that they wrote Do You Wonder About Me?, Diet Cig’s ode to growing up.
“We spent a lot of time after the first record growing as people, being humans outside of tour for a little bit, and trying to shed the imposter syndrome.” Luciano says. Spending the time to make the kind of music they really wanted to make and making sure they felt good about it was crucial to the success of tracks like “Night Terrors.” It’s a slower-paced song than Diet Cig’s usual, but just as biting; a song about reckoning with all the past versions of yourself. As Luciano puts it, “Am I still these people, or have I shapeshifted?” It’s essentially the thesis of Do You Wonder About Me?, considering and accepting the embarrassing aspects of your identity, and how they’re just as much a part of you as the good stuff.
“When we made our first record we almost felt like we had something to prove,” Luciano says. Much of it was written on tour—the kinks in the songs worked out by playing them live. But the writing and recording of Do You Wonder About Me? was imbued with more freedom. Diet Cig had the sense that they could make whatever they wanted. Luciano and Bowman, instead of practicing live to an audience, worked on their songs over the course of a year in their practice space, and ended up finishing tracks with their longtime producer Chris Daly at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia, PA, and back in New Paltz, NY at Salvation Recording. Instead of making sure they’d fit their live show, Diet Cig tinkered with songs until they felt right to them. As a result, Do You Wonder has a freshness, a gleaming new direction. Fewer boundaries. More truth, more honesty.
Past praise for Diet Cig
"Swear I'm Good At This all adds up to a snapshot of a young songwriter navigating through the yearning and boredom, ambition and insecurity that accumulates along the rocky path from adolescence to adulthood. The power of Diet Cig comes from the way Luciano and Bowman bolster these themes with affirming positivity in the form of delightful, explosive anthems." - NPR
"The best pop-punk uses sweetness as a decoy for angst, and Alex Luciano, the frontwoman of Diet Cig, has a piercingly saccharine voice that veers toward extreme sadness as she deploys it." - NY Times
"The delightfully titled 'Barf Day' (embodies) what makes the pair's upcoming debut Swear I'm Good At This so enthralling: the featherweight garage grit, Luciano's subversive sincerity, and bandmate Noah Bowman's fist-pumping percussion...Against all odds, Diet Cig are coming of age on their own terms."" - Stereogum
Vocalist Alex Luciano brings a lighthearted innocence to ('Tummy Ache') singing criticisms of the patriarchy in the most charming way." - Nylon
"Swear I'm Good at This, (is) one of the most refreshingly fun albums of the year." - Noisey
"Diet Cig's debut album driven by Alex Luciano, is one of the most effeminate, flippant, giggly and cute albums of the year - and that's part of what makes it so f*cking good." - Uproxx
"loud, blunt, and totally fun." - Under The Radar
"Swear I'm Good At This, is charismatic, balancing rage and rebellion with poppy lightness...Luciano breathes life and space into these traditionally closed-off feelings, and her twee pop voice will have listeners tapping their feet and leaning in for more." - Bust
"Diet Cig's music is playful, upbeat and addictive." - Paste
"infectious indie-rock perfection" - NY Newsday
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