The self-titled initial album is very regimented or organized. The songs make narrative sense and flow together. They go over life in
the pandemic, the wistful memories of a simpler time, the difficulties of an eroding society, and the existential dread that comes from feeling trapped in one's
own situation. Eventually, the album culminates in the final song's expression of the group's unity despite the sundering storms of life. The album ends up
feeling optimistic in the face of a strange and hostile world.
Y2K Expansion begins to reveal the slow unraveling of the group's psyche, with references to nostalgic childhood media and how, as time continues to
flow, the perception of this media and of the world at large is beginning to warp. The album immediately begins with the head scrambling Digital Girls, a
stark tonal shift from the previous album's softer sound. This shift is seemingly dismissed with Garden Adventures and Cereal Aisle, with both songs
restoring the lighter tone from the previous album. This respite, however, is short-lived as the rest of the album's tracks wrench the listener back into a
mental sinkhole. Swirls feels like a disorienting tumble down the drain, as if symbolizing the group's descent into a more fragmented mental place. wipE'out''
Freestyle puts this descent on full display, and Peaceful in a Snow Globe and Blue Drop further compound the madness. In a sudden twist, the final track of
the album, Stitch, brings the listener back to a calmer mental world. The group has been marked by their recent experiences but still remain themselves.
Funny Man's Curse is the final piece of the C9RG primary trilogy and displays the groups final mental descent. Both beginning and ending tracks
display cognitive dissonance, with I Love Pizza and I Hate the Bus showcasing a willful rejection of reality. One must also note the substantially shortened
length of the album in comparison to the other two. That, and the instrumental interludes between the lyrical tracks of the album may hint at the scatterbrained
state the group has found themselves in. Despite this, the tone of this album is not as harsh as Y2K Expansion's, evoking more the tones of the group's first
album. This, however, is only a faint evocation, as FMC's tracks are much more sinister in their content and message. The group is clearly on a dark path
leading to an eventual awakening or degeneration.
-Emmanuel