Nicole Brice
Apr 29, 2025
‘Impermanence’ has all the qualities of a great song.
Wow! Those were my first thoughts upon hearing the new single from the UK-based band Cinder. ‘Impermanence' is an exhilarating song that features fuzzy guitars, noise, grunge and embodies the essence of alternative and shoegaze music. It resonates with me on multiple levels, as it reminds me of some great bands I admired while growing up, such as Catherine Wheel and My Bloody Valentine. Cinder comprises Lewis on synth and lead vocals, Dan on lead and rhythm guitar, Cal on additional lead and rhythm guitar, and Zach on drums—the bass is played on the synth.
Cal primarily holds down the core rhythm guitar in this particular track while Dan takes the lead. Lewis, Dan, and Zach have been playing together since the summer of 2023, while Cal joined the group around April 2022. Just two months after coming together, the band had their first gig, quickly forming a strong bond as both a band and a group of friends. With a team of like-minded musicians, anything is possible, right? This camaraderie and unity have led to the release of ‘Impermanence’, which is a track we think you’ll absolutely love. It's refreshing to hear music like Cinder's in an industry oversaturated with conformity and lacking substance. This song is definitely not lacking substance.
Released on March 28, 2025, ‘Impermanence’ has all the qualities of a great song—edgy, artistic, loud, and simply enjoyable. Can we say we like a song because it's just plain good? No frills, just pure enjoyable music.
We asked Cinder a few questions to better understand the band and their overall vibe. Check out our Q&A below and then go stream ‘Impermanence’ on your favorite streaming service.
MaM: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences and why?
Cinder: At this early stage of the band, the writing is very much spearheaded by Lewis and his backlog of tunes, with the rest of us adding our own parts in our own styles, refracted through the prism of Lewis's love of alt. rock, industrial, and shoegaze. Between the lot of us, we bring a load of different influences into the music. However, the bands/artists that inspire us the most in terms of how we amalgamate all of these influences are bands such as Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Sonic Youth.
We love the textures and noise elements of shoegaze, especially live. The almost overwhelming volume acts as a kind of soothing agent - it's washing over you a therapeutic and comforting sort of sensory overload.
As for production, Nine Inch Nails is a tremendous influence. Their records and individual tracks are often self-contained sonic worlds of their own. In the vein of post-rock, we love to reinterpret our instruments and their role in the track, experimenting with how an instrument is viewed and played traditionally and how we can use it to create different interesting sounds that communicate our musical points.
MaM: Give us a little backstory behind the origins of the new song? What inspired the lyrics?
Cinder: The song begins with the narrator describing their bleak acceptance of death. Their fear of existentialism has led them to become paralyzed and isolated, but they view it more as recognizing the truth of the world, which others can’t see.
Eventually, in a moment of revelation, they 'break' and convince themselves that the real answer to their fear is to control their own death. They’ll join everyone in the 'pursuit of happiness,' but their main goal is to burn themselves out and bring about their own end. And do so in an explosive and spectacular way.
MaM: Are you currently working on anything else? Are there plans for an EP in the future?
Cinder: We're currently working on the rest of our self-produced debut EP. We plan to release two more singles, ‘Breathing’ and ‘Sines’, before releasing the EP, Vows To Boscobel, towards the end of the summer. Lewis and a couple of other folks rent a unit in one of Manchester's old mills, which has become our second home for rehearsing and recording.
MaM: If you could describe your music for someone who has not heard it yet, what would you tell them?
Cinder: That’s a difficult question to answer, but the word ‘uncompromising’ definitely comes to mind. I think we aim to do as much as we possibly can and attack each song from every angle, so to speak. Sonically, that comes across as loud and abrasive alt. rock interspersed with moments of delicate melodicism. Behind the scenes, however, it’s about recording five minutes of pure guitar feedback just to get the perfect five-second snippet to use in the song. We’ve reached a point creatively where we won’t release anything unless we know we’ll still love it years from now.
'Impermanence' is out NOW, so go check it out, and stay tuned for more in the future from Cinder.
To learn more about Cinder:
Website:
Instagram:
Cinder (@cindernoise) • Instagram photos and videos
*Photos by Zainab Alhameed
Questions or comments? Reach out to mixedalternativemag@gmail.com.