Audiopile Review: A FLAC-only release dropped via an eye-gouging, anachronistic Geocities site becoming one of the most buzzed about albums of 2024? Certainly didn’t see that coming. Perhaps our shortsightedness is due to our humble proximity to the project’s earliest days—two of Patrick Flegel’s earliest releases as Cindy Lee came from Vancouver’s experimental incubator, Isolated Now Waves, a label with deep roots here at Audiopile HQ. Those earliest Cindy Lee cassettes eventually lead to a self-released LP, Act Of Tenderness, hand delivered to the shop during Flegel’s fruitful tenure intermingling in the Vancouver underground. Catching us off guard, Act Of Tenderness deepened the intriguingly solipsistic space that Cindy Lee was just getting comfortable in, seemingly forever leaving behind the agreeable angular-pop of Women. The melodies that helped propel Flegel’s previous band toward explosive success were now buried in a shroud of lo-fi hiss, the LP littered with outbursts of fragmented noise. It felt like an attempt, knowingly or otherwise, to keep at arm’s length the ravenous hype machine of the late ’00s that nearly swallowed them whole only a few years prior. But the dream-like pop craft that radiates across Diamond Jubilee can be found within the cracked walls of Act of Tenderness, though it didn’t come easy. They felt like wormholes to get fully sucked into, repeated listens required to unlock the beauty that dappled beneath the dissonance. However, Cindy Lee albums were not without a dedicated, slowly growing fan base. W. 25th, Superior Viaduct’s sub-label for releasing contemporary music, eventually picked up the scent, pressing to vinyl the early cassettes, which was soon followed by issuing 2020’s What’s Tonight To Eternity, the new high-water mark in the growing Cindy Lee catalog. That is, until Diamond Jubilee came along. Completely dispensing of the abstracted noise-scapes, the sprawling epic offered a perfectly pruned 32 song set of outer-zonal pop majesty that now, with hindsight being 20/20 etc, seems all but inevitable. Its eventual arrival on YouTube, playing out as a single track, was perhaps the smartest way to absorb the daunting album while we awaited a physical release. The sheer volume of songs was best listened to without the restless skipping around that our current streaming hell-scape has cultivated, a world that Flegel has purposefully and thankfully steered the listener away from. Dense and wide-ranging, the 3xLP set is bursting with a mis-remembered nostalgia, Flegel’s ability to draw on a staggering depth of influences while simultaneously maintaining their own idiosyncratic stamp throughout is awe-inspring. This is the sound of Lou Reed’s obsession with doo-wop, Brian Wilson one-upping The Beatles, Scott Walker’s devotion to Jacque Brel, Bowie chasing Marc Bolan, Ariel Pink mainlining the ‘70s FM dial, and Stephen Merritt’s twisted Brill Building nuggets. It is a masterful re-shaping of the Western pop canon and its varied subcultures into an alternate universe that you never ever want to leave.

And, if you’re looking for one more local connection, the original digital release and this vinyl pressing were both mastered in Vancouver by Josh Stevenson! How’s that for coming full circle?

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Superior Viaduct and our new artist label, W.25TH, are proud to continue to be the home for Cindy Lee with the physical release of the celebrated album Diamond Jubilee. Universally praised, shortlisted for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize, and already hailed by Pitchfork as the 3rd best album of the 2020s, anticipation and conversation around the record has been high.

Cindy Lee is the performance and songwriting vehicle of Patrick Flegel (who previously fronted influential indie group Women). Over several albums, Flegel has combined delicate melodies and sheer beauty with moments of experimentation. With Diamond Jubilee, Flegel’s undeniable songcraft comes to the foreground, embracing a more instant connection and accessibility. Timeless tales of love and longing, surrounded by sticky hooks, take the listener on an unforgettable journey.

Diamond Jubilee was written and recorded over several years by Patrick Flegel in Toronto, Durham, Calgary and Montreal at Realistik Studios. The album was mixed by Steven Lind, who also contributes to several tracks and co-wrote “Baby Blue,” and was mastered by Joshua Stevenson.