Common Saints – Cinema 3000

Multi-instrumentalist writer and producer Charlie J Perry, known as Common Saints, has spent years shaping the music landscape from behind the scenes, working with artists like BTS, Jorja Smith, Olivia Dean and Lola Young. But now, the time has finally come to deliver a full album, clearly created with a listener in mind – someone the artist wants to reach out to, saying all that he needs to say. And this is how Cinema 3000 found its way from Perry’s South London studio into the world.

The production is where he shows his mastery, merging nostalgia with modernity, from psychedelic opening track Sweet Release to the 70s classic rock sound of C’est La Vie. Each track flows into one another to both comfort and awaken its audience: despite its several layers, the glue of Cinema 3000 is a persistent element of introspection and meditation. Each song asks you to slow down and reflect on how the restless pace of modern life might have affected the way you see and interact with the world, and with others. And, also, the often-overlooked impact of modernity on the way people dream – dreaming being a recurring theme throughout. In fact, the atmospheric layering and warm melodies, especially in tracks like Sandman and Dream On, create a floating and almost dreamlike listening experience.

Piece of War and Rebel Paradise are both highlights, for different reasons. The former is a heartfelt, raw and honest reflection on feeling broken and lost, and perhaps the implications of certain burdensome stereotypes around masculinity. Recorded during a bout of laryngitis, Perry’s vocals add authenticity, expressing the weight of “picking up the pieces” of a fractured self. “Good lord you’re never fine / Pick another piece of war / Jacked up to carry nines / They don’t even wanna know,” sings a seemingly exhausted Perry.

It is followed by Rebel Paradise, a Pink Floyd-influenced track and the longest on the record. This paradise imagined by the artist is a place where the rebels – the ones who resist – should form a united front against the downside of modernity (“All for one / Tired of the waiting / The ever forsaken”): being bombarded by information all the time, the looming eye of the media, trying to be heard above voices louder than yours.

Cinema 3000 is the type of album best listened to in a quiet, dim-lit room, inviting a moment of introspection. It makes for a psychedelic and mellifluous awakening of the modern soul.

Benedetta Mancusi
Image: Dan Medhurst

Cinema 3000 is released on 1^st November 2024. For further information or to order the album visit Common Saints’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Dreams here: