Its raw, true-to-life quality is rooted in Ciani’s sharp perception—he pulls shiny threads from the world around him, from personal experiences to world events. “Catch My Breath” helped to shape the album’s tone; seeped in melancholy, it emulates the panic of gasping for air when everything feels like it’s falling apart. As the album progresses, Ciani plunges listeners into an ultra-relatable spectrum of emotions—detachment, disappointment, even obsession. Songs like “73 Seconds” pull from unimaginable disaster, while tracks like “Lousy Sunday Breakfast” and “Too Wise to Enjoy” spring from overheard gossip, all reinforcing a sobering truth: “Tragedy can always be set in motion.” Yet, it’s “Some Kind of Purgatory”—with an accompanying lyric and music video already released that stands out drawing viewers into the shadowy depths of isolation while hinting at an indestructible tenacity.
Despite its bleak lyrical flair, The Catacombs is a delectable listen—wistful, wise, and wonderfully entrancing. While real-life catacombs are places where lives and relationships are stored in secret, buried—left to decay without a sound—Ciani’s Catacombs invites listeners in, leaving audiences hungry and awestruck, aching to devour it again and again.
