Cindy Lee, recently released the track “I Want You To Suffer”. Cindy Lee is the experimental-pop project from Patrick Flegel, the former lead singer of much beloved art-noise band Women. Their forthcoming release What’s Tonight To Eternity, is due out on February 14th. The song covers some intensely disturbing emotional territory but like all Flegel’s work has an undeniable undertow which draws you in only to spit you back out.

They tell us “I Want You To Suffer is about my feelings regarding being abused and wanting severe punishment and revenge. It is also a rumination on alienation and repression in the wake of authority figures telling you that you are insane for your entire adolescence, when you are truly just reacting to what is happening to you. As you grow older, you realize that the identity and stances that have been adopted remain part of the same poisonous framework that you had been trying to escape. In the end, all that is left is the aching desire to be loved and trusted, despite a string of failures on your part.”

What’s Tonight To Eternity, is Cindy Lee’s fifth long-form offering and showcases the project’s most entrancing strengths — ethereal snowdrift pop, piercing experimental moments and sly nods toward oldies radio. Recorded primarily at Flegel’s Realistik Studios in Toronto, and featuring younger brother Andrew Flegel on drums on two tracks, the album travels hand in hand with a spectral guide.

Patrick found a massive inspiration for the record in the form of Karen Carpenter, drawing from her early recordings, as well as Carpenter’s look and style. “I found a deep interest and comfort in her story, which is a cautionary tale about the monstrosity of show business, stardom at a young age, and being a misfit looking for connection. The darkness and victimizing tabloid sensationalism she suffered, which is easily tempered and overwhelmed by her earnest output, her artistry, her tireless work ethic. Something utterly unique and magical takes shape in the negative space, out of exclusion. What I relate to in her mainly has a lot to do with her output and what is unknown about her, how much she kept hidden to herself while having this public profile.”

The album itself is a mix of conflict, hope, spirituality, identity, hidden truths, trust, self-destruction, middle class culture wars, control, artistry, work ethic, pop culture indoctrination, pain and suffering, hopes and dreams, fierce confrontations and wide-open confessional blurs. Closing with the song “Heavy Metal”, inspired by and dedicated to the memory of former Women band mate Chris Reimer.

Cindy Lee
What’s Tonight To Eternity
Tracklist

1. Plastic Raincoat
2. I Want You To Suffer
3. The Limit
4. What’s Tonight To Eternity
5. One Second To Toe The Line
6. Lucifer Stand
7. Speaking From Above
8. Just For Loving You I Pay The Price
9. Heavy Metal