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Capital Cities (CC) is a pop duo from Los-Angeles, California that was formed in 2010. The guys became one of the most promising discoveries in the indie-pop and indietronica stages on the West Coast in the early 2010s.
The group started with two people, and more specifically with Sebu Simonian and Ryan Merchant in 2008. Sebu had musical experience before, but in 2008 he positioned himself more as a music producer than as a musician. Then the musician found Ryan Merchant through Craigslist. The guys have been creating music for commercial media advertising projects for more than two years, and then, the guys thought about creating their music project. They embodied the idea in the project named Capital Cities.
Although we mentioned earlier that the two musicians formed the group, it is still incorrect to state that the CC consists of two members. Thus, the current composition of the group consists of six members. In addition to the two major studio musicians Sebu Simonian and Ryan Merchant, who are mainly engaged in keyboarding, programming, vocals, sampling, and production, the group also has four touring members: drummer Channing Holmes, guitarist Nick Merwin, bass guitarist Manny Quintero, and Spencer Ludwig on trumpet.
Before moving on to describe the creative path of the group, it is worth mentioning that the group had their small record label called Lazy Hooks, where they released their first trial track "Beginning" in 2010. The group recorded and published their debut self-titled EP in January 2011. The debut release was very warmly received by critics, which spurred the group to continue their activities on recording a full-length album. So, given the good reviews about the debut of CC, the group signed with one of the major American labels, Capitol Records. So, a few weeks before the release of the new album, the group had released one of their most recognizable singles, which can be said to become their calling card. Soft and Sound was born with the collaboration of two labels, and the single almost immediately gains popularity, unthinkable for a group with no studio albums recorded yet. So, the single takes first place in the US Alternative Airplay chart, and also in the German charts. Furthermore, it ranks # 2 on the US Rock Chart and peaks at # 8 on the Billboard 200. Overall, the single was certified 2x Platinum by RIAA, 3x Platinum by BVMI, and Platinum by FIMI and ARIA. Which, of course, was a great motivation for the fastest release of the new album.
The band released their first full-length studio album In a Tidal Wave of Mystery in 2013. This album still does not become as successful as "Soft and Sound." By the way, a music video for the single was released in cooperation with VEVO in 2013. This video is still quite successful, and it has more than half a billion views on YouTube, for example. In April of that year, the band embarked on their first national tour in support of the new album. The musicians involved both the four touring members and the special guests for playing a gig before their performances. Towards the end of the year, the CC was releasing another music video for Kangaroo Court, which would later form the basis for the EP of the same name. The Kangaroo Court EP was released in December 2013.
The guys have been continuing their studio activities, parallel to the concert tour over the past five years. So, they gave a series of performances together with the famous singer Katy Perry in 2016. The band released an EP and a studio album in 2017-2018, which received moderately warm reviews from critics and fans. Throughout 2019, the band has been giving concerts all over the United States. Obviously, the group had to cancel all events planned for 2020 due to well-known reasons. Despite everything, the guys are planning to continue their activities, in which we would like to wish them good luck.