Caitlyn Scarlett – Sunset Cigarette. “Sunset Cigarette is written about a girl, which is something that people are often surprised to find out,” says Caitlyn Scarlett. “The whole ‘sunset cigarette’ metaphor grew from that, and the fact that she was attractive and addictive but not infinite. She glowed but faded and disappeared much like sunsets and cigarettes do, and even though I was enticed by her, our relationship was unhealthy.” The track is the only “fully acoustic” track taken from her recent Jurassic Jukebox & Other Drugs EP, a slow burner of a song with lightly strummed guitar chords supporting Caitlyn’s vivacious voice flitting between notes with soulful frenetics and sporting storytelling lyrics like “I wonder if my hair’s ok like this, I just don’t know / I’d ask for your opinion, honey, but you’re gone” and “I haven’t seen you for months now and it’s becoming quite a joke / Remember we were 14 when you taught me how to smoke?”
The tale of young but ultimately unhealthy love is illustrated with a vintage style video, the girl in question is represented only occasionally with a pair of anonymous hands touching Caitlyn’s shoulders, images projected on a screen to heighten the sense of memories. “I wanted the whole video to have a feeling of nostalgia sewn throughout,” explains Caitlyn, “which, now that it’s finished, I think it does.” We think so too.
Caitlyn Scarlett – Sunset Cigarette
Caitlyn Scarlett’s smoky vocals immediately reminded me of one rising Los Angeles star named BANKS. The young UK artist’s debut single Bad Love starts out very soulful, slinking along seductively with hints of folk and alt dark pop, but then the heavy, guttural bass hits, and the song just takes off. The genre blending song even reminds me at times of Tennessee singer songwriter Meg Myers and her passionate, ghoulish rock music. The mesmerizing, powerful song is off Caitlyn Scarlett’s forthcoming EP Jurassic Jukebox and Other Drugs. I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Caitlyn Scarlett – Sunset Cigarette Lyrics:
6pm Saturday I’ve got the bus all to myself
This is the way I’m sure, I left the old times on the shelf
I haven’t seen you for months now and it’s becoming quite a joke
Remember we were 14 when you taught me how to smoke
There goes that old man again, he smiles at me, I don’t know him though
And that must be a new house, there’s still stickers on the windows
I wish I had a way with words but I just don’t think I do
Somehow they came so easily when I used to talk to you
And it’s unusually quiet for such a busy town
As if the whole world knows that I just cannot deal with them right now
I wonder if my hair’s okay like this, I just don’t know
I’d ask for your opinion on it, but you’re gone
Yes you put the blame on me as if I was the only one
And every word you said was like a knife wound, or a bullet from a gun
So you go and be who you want, and I’ll stay the same old me
‘Cause it takes two to tango, yes two, just two, not not three
And it’s unusually quiet for such a busy town
As if the whole world knows that I just cannot deal with them right now
I wonder if my hair’s okay like this, I just don’t know
I’d ask for your opinion on it, but you’re gone
And baby you are a sunset cigarette
I’ll inhale your light but I won’t forget
How you faded away
Every streak of orange in the sky
Takes me back to those burnt tip sighs
Oh Ray, oh rays, you went away
And it’s unusually quiet for such a busy town
As if the whole world knows that I just cannot deal with them right now
I wonder if my hair’s okay like this, I just don’t know
I’d ask for your opinion on it, but you’re gone.
