CIGARETTE AFTER SCHOOL teased their pain into the chill of their sludgy post-punk release, YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND –

The Montreal-based Ukrainian breakthrough artist CIGARETTE AFTER SCHOOL bridged the gap between Bauhaus and Nirvana with the standout single, YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND, from their debut EP, NOTHING BUT A GAME. By orchestrating a sub-zero tundra of a sludgy landslide with cold, angular guitars and dense production, backed by deadpan vocals that paradoxically howl, they have unequivocally staked their claim as grungy post-punk fusionists with serious command of their source material.

YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND keeps its edges tetanus sharp; the single sits in the aftermath of late-night conversations and empty streets, where introspection sours into volume and distortion pedals hit like concrete to the nervous system. The band’s bio frames their music as thinking out loud, and the single carries that exact sensation: private turmoil forced into a room too loud to ignore.

Their reverence for both genres never collapses into cosplay. CIGARETTE AFTER SCHOOL know their way around grunge and post-punk down to the smallest footnotes on the map, letting raw energy, theatrical restraint and working-class gloom meet inside a release that feels immediate on stage and brutally internal through headphones.

NOTHING BUT A GAME becomes a grimy, ensnaring, maleficent conduit for the artist’s tumult of pain. If YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND is only a glimpse into the mind of CIGARETTE AFTER SCHOOL, their inner worlds must be a carousel through those seven infamous circles.

YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast