Music
Press
City Breathing follows up their 2008 debut Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Toward Heaven with a brand new EP called My Apple IIe Is Singing Sad Songs To Me. It contains 4 tracks of their usual beautiful instrumentation along with great indie melodies. It is cinematic and perfectly orchestrated for your dramatic or happy moods. The Brooklyn trio is giving us one of the best EPs I've heard all year. Get it here (www.citybreathing.com) on April 14th. Also if you get the physical CD, you will receive an exclusive letter pressed Apple IIe (5.25") floppy disk case for your copy. PFF!!! Dope. - BBQ Chicken Robot
"There are many words that can be used to describe City Breathing's Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Towards Heaven CD. Some that come to mind are elegant, magnificent, ethereal and beautiful. City Breathing is a Brooklyn based three piece consisting of Arun Antonyraj, Marwan Kanafani and Walter Ondrejko. You've probably noticed that the album title is somewhat epic in wording, and that is definitely suitable for this band. There are only 8 songs on this one, but the CD is still over 50 minutes in length with the average song sitting within the 6 to 7 minute range. To say that the CD requires a little bit of patience is perhaps accurate, but not entirely without reward. The vocals are soothing, yes, but never comatose. Quite frankly, the fact that the songs are mellow does not mean that they are not exciting. On the contrary, their epic nature makes them some of the most enthralling and majestic pieces of music you'll hear all year. The album took me about 3 listens to fully appreciate, but now I can't stop listening to it. The way the vocals and the instrumentation complement each other to create an effervescent cinematic soundscape of beauty and melancholy is something that is often attempted but rarely successfully executed. Look How It's Snowing... is a grand achievement. Definitely worth spending some time with."
- It's Not the Band I Hate It's Their Fans
"When drowning in the appropriate sound, you find yourself achieving the same fundamental effects in your soul as coming up for air has on the body. City Breathing is that appropriate sound. Their atmospheric and moody sound is akin to Explosions in the Sky or Mono except with vocals. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, these three young men have crafted a sound that is immediately riveting, emotionally devastating, and achingly passionate. Characterized by towering walls of sound, oceanic guitar work and vicious rhythmic elements, City Breathing is a band that knows how to imbed itself within the part of you that refuses to easily surrender." - Kata Rokkar
"After a year in which Brooklyn moved to the centre of the musical universe with the meteoric rise of bands like MGMT, Battles, Yeasayer, Gang Gang Dance, Dirty Projectors and Grizzly Bear it's easy to yawn and look the other way when yet another Brooklyn band come rolling over the Brooklyn bridge.
But with their blend of Explosions in the Sky like post rock intensity, Sigur Rosesque fuzzily intimate ambience and Death Cab For Cutie infectious indie-pop accessibility Brooklyn trio City Breathing are well equipped to ride the post MGMT wave like a celestial Silver Surfer.
City Breathing's filmic rock, all astral guitars, swirling synths and nifty sampling, is deeper than a zen monk and perfect for washing away the stresses and strains of an increasingly fractious world." - The Devil Has the Best Tuna
The press release on Brooklyn's City Breathing was intriguing to me because the description of the band compared them to Owen and Explosions In The Sky. Considering how much I love these artists, and how different they all are, I was pretty curious as to how City Breathing could meld such diverse influences. After listening to the band's new album Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Towards Heaven, I definitely hear the Explosions In The Sky influence, and the vocals come off like a more uplifting take on Mike Kinsella. Combining ethereal and atmospheric guitar-work with more intimate moments, City Breathing sounds like a post-rock band with pop sensibilities. There has to be a word for that.. how about post-pop? The epic "We Can Retrace The Sinking Sky" is a good indication of the band's capabilities. The track combines soaring reverb-heavy electric guitar with a finger-picked acoustic guitar riff, silky smooth vocals, and electronic nuance. This is definitely a band worth checking out. - Captain Obvious
"If anyone just so happened to ask if a song, ok... any song clocking in at over nine minutes, could hold our attention beyond a standard cocktail and cigarette, I would probably be looking carefully for signs of eye redness and/or a Frank Zappa printed t-shirt. This time, however, all bets are off as our collective attention is focused on an impressive entry in the form of a new Roses & Hello label release, titled Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Towards Heaven, from Brooklyn, New York based trio City Breathing. Current contributors Arun Antonyraj, Marwan Kanafani (no, not that Marwan Kanafani... - Michelle) and Walter Ondrejko have created a true gem in this debut full length album that had our heads spinning nicely after repeated listens. Plenty of you MML regulars will appreciate this one." - Milk Milk Lemonade
City Breathing, an experimental indie-pop band from Brooklyn, recently released Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Towards Heaven, a perfect, indie freshman release with a title I like almost as much as These United States’ A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden. On the verge of hypnotizing, City Breathing live up to their poetic title. They manage both solemn and cinematic tones on a CD that takes it's sweet time getting to the point, but the ride is certainly enjoyable. - Instrumental Analysis
"We're back with an amazing trio from Brooklyn, NY. Look How It's Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Towards Heaven, the 51-minute debut full length from City Breathing is out now via the Roses & Hello Label. City Breathing rocks a more heartfelt loopy post-rock sound with subtle lyrics and reminds me of my early favs the Mercury Program. It's beautiful, it's very cinematic and your mind gets a quick uncontrollable opportunity to paint pictures and dwell on past memories! It's good stuff you can get lost in." - BBQ Chicken Robot
I am falling in love with City Breathing's new EP, My Apple IIe is Singing Sad Songs to Me. - Bradley's Almanac
Discography
2009: My Apple ][e is Singing Sad Songs to Me (EP)
2008: Look How's It's Snowing Upwards Look How They Move Towards Heaven (LP)
http://www.citybreathing.com
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Bio
Waxing nostalgic is quite possibly the only pastime that conjures up both sorrow and joy, and that’s exactly what Brooklyn trio City Breathing best recreate in musical form. Their 2008 full-length debut, Look How It’s Snowing Upwards, Look How They Move Toward Heaven, introduced the band’s swirling cinematic aesthetic and their latest effort continues the trend, recalling bygone days of youth as if they were documented on a dusted-off green-screen computer machine and transposed into notes on a fret board.
The new EP, My Apple ][e Is Singing Sad Songs To Me, includes four tracks that clock in at just under 20 minutes of the band’s signature mix of ebullient pop melodies and epic post-rock crescendos, this time with crisper atmospheres and even richer orchestration.
City Breathing formed in Brooklyn in the Fall of '07. They quickly wrote, rehearsed and recorded their debut, released it on Roses & Hello Records by the Winter of '08 and sold out their first NYC shows in the Spring of the same year. A couple of successful tours followed along with positive press.
Currently, City Breathing is preparing to launch another release with help from their friends at Roses & Hello. The band has spent the past several months writing and recording new material and will release a four song EP entitled, My Apple IIe is Singing Sad Songs To Me in the Spring of '09.
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