- 2023-12-13
-
MUSIC
-
Nicotine Dolls Releases New EP “How Do You Love Me”
New York City-based alt-pop/rock band Nicotine Dolls, consisting of Sam Cieri (vocals), John Hays (guitar), John Merritt (bass) and Abel Tabares (drums), released a new EP “How Do You Love Me” on December 8, 2023 via Nettwerk.
It is their first project in two years since the 2021 EP “Sex, Addiction, and Everyone Else”.
The EP comprises 4-track, written and produced by Samuel Cieri with production Eric Sanderson.
“The goal with this project was to try to not sound like anything else,” the band lead singer Sam Cieri said of the EP. “It didn't matter if what we were doing was 'proper'. It mattered if it felt good. I hear music as sporadic sounds that I can see. That's what I wanted the record to have. We disregarded the attempts to fit into a playlist. It's taken a very long time to understand that Nicotine Dolls simply sound like Nicotine Dolls, and it's something we're confident in.”- He continued, “Looking through these 5 songs is the easiest way for me to explain to someone what the last 2 years of my life has been like. There are themes consistent with self-realization, emotional ambition, and awareness of who, and where, I am at this point…Allowing myself to fully indulge in stuffing every corner with sound, while also learning to be ok with the more stripped and revealing moments.”
-
Sam Cieri explained track-by-track for the EP.
“How Do You Love Me”
“'How Do You Love Me' was written in about 5 minutes, and as thrilling and manically kinetic as that can feel, it also forced me to look at what I was saying. I've run through a few things in my life that have generated this constant paranoia that those around me don't truly want to be around me. This song is what runs through my head whenever I am around or leave my friends. I go through a grocery list of my flaws, followed by the constant question of why and how they choose to love me. There is a constant in that, so the song feels very constant and forward. The whole thing is one long crescendo musically as the lyrics deteriorate downward in a hole of self-loathing. The first time I played back the demo, it sounded like a manic episode (I've been known to have one or two of those), and we carried that into the music video.
This was one where I knew what every shot of the video would look like. I wanted to sort of dance my way into a manic state which I think we captured. The video smiles the most just before it fully collapses. I love when a song sounds like a video and a video looks like a song (which may be the most pretentious thing I've ever said).”
“SLIP” via TribLIVE
“There was a relationship that ended but also didn't end. On one side of that situation, there is the tragedy of love that can't work but still is being acknowledged in a physical way. The other side of that is the seduction and fun and chaos of throwing reason out the window when something feels good. 'Slip' is the latter. It's the pushing energy of being in the same room with an ex, knowing you should keep your distance but then one look and you're in the back of a cab making out.”
“Real House”
“This song came about when I found myself in a false realty me and the person, I was with had created. We had tried to make things work in a real way. We were together for a few years and things fell apart. After that we would find our way back to each other and in those moments, it would go beyond the physical. We would allow ourselves to fully embrace to fantasy. The lights go down and it's all perfect but then they come up, someone yells cut, and it's over.”
“30 Somehow”
“It's about me in my thirties. It's not good, it's not bad, but it is the oldest I've ever been. I was thinking about my life. My dad and I don't talk anymore because of his drinking. He has cancer, and my grandma has cancer. I'm still not where I want to be professionally. However, I'm becoming more aware and appreciative as to how incredible my mom is. I appreciate my sister and niece. Here are the negative things and here are the positive things. When I was in my 20s I romanticized a short life and now that I've made it past that point, I attempt to romanticize the opposite.”
Photo by Hannah Greve - source : Apple Music
