We’ve been long overdue for someone to press the cultural reset button on independent music. Thank god (or whatever you believe in — or don’t, for that matter) for the existence of artists like Cindy Lee. As the former lead vocalist and guitarist for the criminally underrated Canadian Aughts rockers, WOMEN, the drag persona alter ego of Patrick Flegel has more or less maintained the creative integrity of their past life wrought in low fidelity art rock and experimental pop, now in the singular form, across several albums that had — up until Diamond Jubilee — existed in their own plane as middling, publicity-enhanced chemical-peeled versions of ’90s alternative supersaturated the scene to the point of coloring it all beige. Their latest full-length album arrives as the landscape of indie music culture direly needs a reminder as to what the whole fucking point of this thing should aim to be: creating art in spite of trend, bucking rules set by corporate overlords, putting faith behind the organic word of mouth of listeners rather than publicity-fueled campaigns several thousands of dollars deep, and above all, to truly owning your own narrative. Diamond Jubilee — in its double LP length, released only on a Geocities site and YouTube stream so far to date, and in which every track has intentional value — rediscovers those tenets as new found esotericism. Anyone who came of age at the tail end of the 2000s scene will find Cindy Lee’s style harkens to an era where it was okay to embrace the messy and the unkept, and where criticism was led by the sound of songs challenging sonic status quo rather than milking playlist strategies. Though a dense listening effort, it’s also one that can easily be digested in piece meal without losing your placemark thanks to its crackling, hypnotic fusion of art rock, pop, and psychedelics that traverse decades spanning aesthetic touch points of ’60s girl groups and foundational pop music formations, the wake ‘n bake of early freak-folk and Woodsist outputs, stains of the Smell scene’s shitgaze and crude, synthy noise-pop bands, and yes, that eerie transistor indie rock strain of WOMEN echoes on, too. Still, it stands altogether as the outsider vision of Cindy Lee alone, and perhaps that’s why it sounds so radical to hear in 2024 even if we’ve spiritually encountered a similar vibe before. Is it the definitive best album of the year? Those kind of questions are always too early to ask at any point prior to December, but one thing is for sure: in a time when plenty of last year’s major indie releases have already been completely forgotten, music like that heard on Diamond Jubilee is the kind that will always defy time and trend, for the daring will always live on years from now.

Highlights: “Dreams of You”, “Flesh and Blood”, “Dracula”

Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee is available now on
Realistik Studios.

Buy | Stream