Today’s Song: A Cohesive Explosion of Sound Makes Cxpital’s “San Francisco”

Cxpital © Kathryn Baum
Cxpital © Kathryn Baum
Indiana indie trio Cxpital’s musicality explodes with their latest reminiscent single, “San Francisco”.
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Stream: “San Francisco” – Cxpital




There is an ease at looking back at a relationship and being able to finally see what it for what it was. Not only the good or the bad, but for everything in-between. There is a moment where you can feel happy that it happened and sad that it’s over all at once. Cxpital captures this reminiscent feeling with new musically explosive, sonically sound single “San Francisco.” In their words, “’San Francisco’ deals with the push and pull reminiscence of a relationship in its entirety; both the good parts and the bad”

Velvety guitar licks start the track, easing you in, before distorting into a pop-rock riff of chords as Cxpital’s lead singer and bassist, Lucie Ashmore, begins to sing with pristine vocals,

Talk is cheap
And I keep paying
Losing sleep
Don’t like the games my mind is playing
Losing my head, lost in our bed
Losing my mind
Losing my head, lost in our bed
Losing this time
Cxpital © Kathryn Baum
Cxpital © Kathryn Baum

The band goes further into their creation of the track, “The verses go through the motions of those exhausting and frustrating moments of a relationship, where we feel almost stuck in a constant cycle that has no real ending, but instead we’re just destined to lose our minds. From lyrics in the first verse like “talk is cheap but I keep paying… losing my head, lost in our bed, losing my mind” to the second verse where it’s progressed to “talk is cheap and now I’m broken,” we’re trying to hint at the fact that this relationship really has done a number on us throughout its course. Yet, somehow, we still buy into it, bad times and all; and we stay. But within those moments is where we start thinking of better times, and all the good that makes us stay through the bad.” The music fades out allowing the drumbeat singularly carry your ear from verse to chorus, letting you know you’re shifting into something new with the track,

I love the way you move
Like we’re back in San Francisco
With the lights low, oh
I love the way you groove
Like we’re high on cheap tobacco
We were so close, oh

“The chorus serves as a reminder to tell ourselves that the bad times are worth it for the good times, and I think the inclusion of the lines at the end of the second chorus ‘we were so close to making it’ allude to that reminiscence once again” says Cxptial. The verses continue to thump on with intricate guitar licks and an anchoring bass,

Talk is cheap
And now I’m broken
Spend my life Listening to all these voices
And if I sleep then I just
Keep replaying dreams I don’t wanna see
My unstable reality
Cxpital © Kathryn Baum
Cxpital © Kathryn Baum

A high-hat driven musical break brings us to a bridge that is coupled with bright pulsating guitar plucks,

Losing my head, lost in our bed
Losing my mind
Losing my head, lost in our bed
Losing this time

The song the explodes into its final chorus, making you feel like it could last forever. There are so many elements to the production of this song: each line is accompanied with musicality that is almost never the same, however streamlined enough to feel cohesive. “San Francisco” displays true musicality at its finest. As the band puts it, “I [Lucie] wrote this song in February of 2019, and knew almost straight away it was something worth sharing with the lads; I think every artist has that kind of “aha!” moment when writing a song where it just makes you feel good and you know right away that you’ve created something special, and that was definitely the case with this song. It has developed so much since then, some parts actually only took shape as we were recording them in Tyler [Maximoff] ‘s bedroom, while others had been there since the beginning; one such addition was Tyler’s “Coldplay” style leads that ring throughout the track. A catchy hook over a feel-good track, ‘San Francisco’ reminds us of the good times that make us stay through the bad; and everything in between that makes relationships worthwhile.”



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:: stream/purchase “San Francisco” here ::



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San Francisco - Cxpital

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? © Kathryn Baum


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