ROE KAPARA Announces EP ‘BIG CIGARS AND SATIN SHORTS’ Out August 23rd
Roe Kapara has been building momentum for the past year, releasing a handful of enthusiastically received singles and connecting with his six-figure fan base online while quietly working on his next project behind the scenes. He announces his forthcoming EP, Big Cigars and Satin Shorts, to be released on August 23rd via Epitaph.
New with the announcement is ‘Dumb’, a defiant track that continues his streak of hard-hitting alt-rock anthems that embrace his raw vocal abilities. “‘Dumb’ is a tune about the inadequacies you feel around family members and loved ones that try to pigeonhole you into their way of life,” Kapara explains. “It’s like if you were to spend your entire existence tinkering and toiling away in an attempt to build the most eloquent sandcastle the world has ever seen, and your Aunt Carol stomps on it with her floppy, wet feet. The floppy, wet feet being Aunt Carol’s backhanded compliments and sneering contorted facial expressions she makes at Thanksgiving dinner whenever you talk about your hopes and dreams. But it’s also just a nice tune to dance along to on a lonely Saturday night.”
The accompanying music video, directed by Paige Strabala, highlights the contrast between the idealised vision of suburban life and the underlying reality. The house represents where Kapara grew up, and where he was told by family that he should confirm rather than forge his own path.
Big Cigars and Satin Shorts follows last year’s cinematic Epitaph debut, I Hope Hell Isn’t Real, that demonstrates what FLOOD describes as his “penchant for lightly surreal pop tunes steeped in themes of death and the afterlife.” The new EP meets its audience at the intersection of wit and sardonicism in a similar vein to its predecessor, but even more present is a poignant sense of earnestness – an invitation to see the world through his lurid lens, the lens of a generation whose dread is almost inherent. Heard throughout are inspired sonic traces of early aughts alternative heroes like Cage The Elephant and Weezer with a propensity for humour that often points to some discontented darkness but welcomes like-minded friends with a candid smile. “There’s a lot more songs that are closer to my heart on this project,” says Kapara. “I was just not playing into whatever the internet told me to make.”
Also included on the EP tracklist are the previously released fan favourites, ‘The Dead Come Talking’ and ‘Glorious Day’, contributing over 11 million of his 62 million+ global streams and solidifying his position as a regular on key editorial playlists like Spotify’s The New Alt, Today’s Indie Rock, ALT NOW, New Noise, and more. Kapara recently completed a run of UK and EU dates with Ricky Montgomery (including a packed out show at London’s Electric Ballroom) and plays London’s The Grace on Friday, 12th July prior to hitting Gloucestershire’s 2000trees Festival on 13th July.
While mastering tongue-in-cheek alternative anthems which see him explore his own vulnerabilities, Kapara is quick to shine the mirror outward to address the creeping dread of modern life: consumerism, corporate greed, climate change, and the general feelings of the younger generation in 21st-century America – and the world – often with razor-sharp lyricism and creeping minor-key sonics. His off-kilter alt-pop has seen him gain support from the likes of NME, DIY Mag, BBC Radio 1’s Future Alternative and The Travis Mills Show on Apple Music.
Big Cigars and Satin Shorts Tracklist
PRE-SAVE
1. Dumb
2. Cigars and Satin Shorts
3. Hate Myself
4. Glorious Day
5. The Dead Come Taking
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