“My favorite part is always the writing,” says Roe Kapara on crafting his sophomore EP, Big Cigars and Satin Shorts, out today via Epitaph Records. “I love the energy of what something can be before you finish it.” Having taken a conceptual cinematic approach to last year’s I Hope Hell Isn’t Real EP, Kapara’s new music is driven by earnestness and catharsis, with the same propensity for humor that often points to some discontented darkness but welcomes like-minded listeners with a friendly smile. Big Cigars and Satin Shorts premiered yesterday via FLOOD and is now available on all platforms.
Listen to Big Cigars and Satin Shorts – https://roekapara.ffm.to/bigcigarsandsatinshorts
New with today’s release is the video for ‘Hate Myself,’ a deceivingly uplifting opposition to the old version of yourself that you’d rather leave in the past. “‘I hate myself’ is the feeling of anxiety that comes with tying your self-worth to others’ opinions. The song really sounds like a downer, but in reality, it’s about finding self-confidence,” Kapara explains. “At its core, it’s a protest against molding yourself into a life that makes everyone else around you happy but leaves you feeling like an actor in a shitty play. I wanted to feel like I was detaching myself from the weight of everyone else’s expectations of me.” Kitschy and striking featuring Kapara and friends performing in full clown makeup, watch the video below.
Watch the video for ‘Hate Myself’
Big Cigars and Satin Shorts came together over the past year, decisively vulnerable with an earned confidence exuding from the EP’s five tracks as Kapara gives voice to the disillusionment of a generation coming of age, channeling all the absurdity, despair, and judgmental blows into hard-hitting alternative anthems sonically reminiscent of early aughts mainstays like Cage The Elephant and Weezer. “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.” With over half a million monthly listeners sharing his vision, the new EP marks a significant step in Kapara’s story. Still present are pangs of world-weariness and self-doubt, but with a renewed sense of direction as he uses his music to say something real about himself and his world, to make sense of the messes we encounter and to find his place within them.
Big Cigars and Satin Shorts Tracklist
- Dumb
- Cigars and Satin Shorts
- Hate Myself
- Glorious Day
- The Dead Come Talking
