Mädchen

This is Cinema

↳ This is Cinema is Ben Babbitt (Weyes Blood, Kentucky Route Zero) & Theo Karon (Kingsize Soundlabs).

“Mädchen” (German for “girls”) is a bright slice of pop with cryptic lyrics. Beneath the jangly guitars and crooning voice, the band imitates drum machines with analog tape manipulation and heavily processed drum recordings.

B-side “Gloom Cookie” was revived from an abandoned song pile. It’s This is Cinema’s idea of a full-on rock song with a 4/4 beat, surreal lyrics and (why not?) a choir of tuned wine glasses played on a home-made mellotron, which was originally created by engineer/multi-instrumentalist Theo Karon for a cover of Bjork’s “Where Is the Line?”.

---

A-side / “Mädchen”

Ben Babbitt: vocals, guitar, keyboard, tape loops
Theo Karon: keyboards, percussion, tape loops
Bob Buckstaff: bass
Marcin Sulewski: samples, percussion
Alex Babbitt: alien whale voice in the bridge
Emily Cross: additional vocals

B-side / “Gloom Cookie”

Ben Babbitt: vocals, guitar, keyboard
Theo Karon: keyboards, wine glass choir
Bob Buckstaff: bass, guitar
Marcin Sulewski: drums

---

All music by This is Cinema
Lyrics by Ben Babbitt
Recorded and mixed by Theo Karon