Track of the Week: Cicadas // The Cookie Jar Complot

For approximately three years, The Cookie Jar Complot has been entertaining audiences with its rock-inspired instrumental sound. Keen to prove that instrumental melodies are as entertaining and profound as songs with lyrics, the pair create colourful sonic tapestries with their guitars and drums. Veteran musicians in their own rights, Sven Schmeler and Gilles Glesender have performed with various Luxembourg-based acts in the past; however, it is their present and future as The Cookie Jar Complot that has us sitting with bated breath. The latest addition to their discography is the single ‘Cicadas’.

Following their well-received track ‘Beaver Deceiver’, the duo adopts a rock-inspired sound in ‘Cicadas’. Yet, as with previous material, The Cooke Jar Complot do not adhere to a single genre in ‘Cicadas’. Strong elements of different rock sub-genres are present including hard rock, classic rock and alternative rock; however, pools of funk, metal and synth-driven electropop find their way into the soundscape.

One aspect I find intriguing about The Cookie Jar Complot, beyond the various styles and sounds, is how the instrumentation captures the heart of a concept, theme or idea. The pair explain that ‘Cicadas’ “tries to encapsulate whatever a post- and math-rock hymn would sound like…” Given the passion and power of the single, ‘Cicadas’ is the ideal representation of a heartfelt hymn praising the deities of music.

While many may focus on the lyrical component of tracks to find inner depth and meaning, the melody needs to be on par to draw out the true heart of a song. With ‘Cicadas’, The Cookie Jar Complot take the essence of the single, draw it up with passion and sends it soaring through our souls so we can feel meaning in the kaleidoscopic sonic swirl. Elegantly traversing genres and navigating the realm of rock, The Cookie Jar Complot bring a refreshing breath of air to my ears at the end of a long day.

This artist was found on Musosoup #sustainablecurator