Indie-pop trio San Cisco will be on the road heading to the UniBar this May. All that month San Cisco will be showing the regional towns some love and performing songs from their latest album Under the Light, and probably a few of the classics too. November this year will mark 12 years since their self-titled debut album and, still, San Cisco reach new heights in lyricism, production, vulnerability, talent and relevance with Under the Light. Today I dive into their music from the beginning to now.
Simply put, with Under the Light, San Cisco have captured summer in an album. Binding euphoria and melancholy, like an over-whelming love affair. Pulling us through the motions of life through the sounds of pop. The album opens with Lost Without You, their first single released for the album. It’s that classic San Cisco sound. Radio ready to stay bopping in the minds of fans, new and old. High, second on the track list and a standout single, feels almost like a vault track from The Water era.
Summer Days featuring Nicholas Allbrook, track 5 and the final single released, oozes soft summer and the slow aching of love. Then we are pulled straight into the disco dancing of Honeycomb. Honestly, Scarlet’s vocals on anything? Ear-worm ecstasy. Honeycomb feels sickly sweet like an obsessive lust.
Halfway through the album we get Find Yourself Here Again and it’s a moment for reflection, for pondering. We pause with San Cisco as they say, ‘You’re getting caught in your head again/I know you try real hard/You shouldn’t really have to pretend’. Family Trust offers some of the most interesting lyrics and perspective on the whole album about a guy who peaked in high school and likes to get out his feels at the gun range. With its dreamy soundscape, it’s a highlight of the album for me.
Finally, San Cisco close out the Under the Light LP with Into My Heart, sinking into that all too familiar territory of the brewing storm in a relationship. ‘I’ve got nothing left, is it the end?’ The final words of the album begin to blend beneath the disco-synth…
Kirsten’s Very Important and Very Accurate Rating of the San Cisco Albums:
San Cisco
Their self-titled debut, while being absolutely loaded with some classics (namely Awkward, Fred Astaire and my personal favourite Beach (can we ever get over Scarlet’s angelic vocals???)) does not stack up to the ever-improving stream of albums San Cisco graces us with. Though the album is the one I gravitate to the least, that does not say much considering all their albums are on heavy rotation for me. The sweet sounds of 2012’s San Cisco define that time, for me, reminiscent of nostalgic bus rides sitting at the back, watching the world melt away.
The Water
2017 saw the release of San Cisco’s fourth studio album and they delivered addictive electronic indie pop, with my personal favourite from the track list being Waiting For The Weekend. The Water was made for dazed, sharehouse parties in the garden, hearing the buzz of backyard bugs and drunken chats being swallowed into the hot night.
Gracetown
No sophomore slump for San Cisco, 2015’s Gracetown is dazzling, depressing, upbeat, heartsick indie pop made for the bitterest of breakups. Mistakes takes home the prize for best song on the LP. With songs like About You and Too Much Time Together, you’ll be contemplating your relationship, situationship, ex-whatever it is… but at least you’ll have a bit of groove in your step while you do it.
Between You and Me
In 2020 three years after their last album, San Cisco released their LP. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t always so sure about Between You and Me, I loved the singles When I Dream and Flaws but it took a while for me to warm up to the rest of the album. But when I did, I grew to appreciate the maturity that was present in their new music, the journey of the album itself is harmonious and moving. Even after all these years, San Cisco can tenderly unveil their vulnerability as artists. Alone stands out on the LP, so sweeping in its beauty; ‘When I feel alone, I think of home/The lavender light and you.’
Under the Light…
Undetermined.
The beautiful thing about San Cisco, for me, is that I cannot turn away from them. I am pulled to them over and over, ready to fall deeper in love with their music each time. With every new album, I spend months listening to it – savouring, rediscovering, learning. It takes me months to decide where it might fit on the list of the rest of their discography. When those months of listening are up, I find my way back to the rest of their catalogue again and then the answer is illuminated.
But for now, all I can say is that Under the Light is undeniably a no-skip album.
What’s my favourite song though?…
Horoscope. Released back in April 2023, it was the second single released in the lead-up to the album. Since then, I have been obsessing and waiting (im)patiently for the Under the Light LP. Jordi’s voice, in Horoscope, lifts me up, transcends me. I am lulled into a sweet peace as the song concludes:
‘When you’re down, come around
When you’re down, come around’
When you’re down, San Cisco will be waiting for you to come around.
San Cisco will perform at the University of Wollongong UniBar May 24, let’s bask Under the (concert) Light together.
Feature Image: Olivia Senior
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