Draft:Working Title for the Album Secret Waters
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Comment: Not sure I see WP:SIGCOV. GoldRomean (talk) 04:57, 2 June 2025 (UTC)
 | This is a draft article. It is a work in progress open to editing by anyone. Please ensure core content policies are met before publishing it as a live Wikipedia article. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL Last edited by Wackistan (talk | contribs) 22 days ago. (Update)
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| Working Title for the Album Secret Waters | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 25, 2022 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:14 | |||
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| Producer |
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| Cities Aviv chronology | ||||
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Working Title for the Album Secret Waters is the eighth studio album by American rapper Cities Aviv. It was released on October 25, 2022, through D.O.T. Audio Arts (aka Total Works)[1] and FXCK RXP. Cities Aviv produced twelve of the album's seventeen tracks, with the other five tracks produced by Lukah.
Secret Waters is part of a collection of two albums release by Cities Aviv during 2022, the first being Man Plays the Horn in February. Earlier in February, Cities Aviv had taken a four-day therapy retreat, inspiring the album's material.
Background and recording
[edit]Secret Waters was largely inspired by a four-day therapy retreat that Cities Aviv had taken in early February, focused on exploring the generational and past life trauma of Black people. The creation of the album was described as "effortless" compared to those that required several hours of demoing to be completed.[1]
Composition
[edit]Like much of Cities Aviv's work, Secret Waters is largely built upon distorted, chopped samples of previous recordings. Blake Gillespie of Bandcamp described the album as "healing music built from ‘70s soul and jazz samples, full of urgency and encouragement."[1] Influences from jazz and ambient music has been noted as the most prevelant influences on its musical style.[2] Dweller Forever noted that Cities Aviv's "eclectic" sampling makes it hard to trace the origins of the songs used, as the website WhoSampled had a "fittingly" small amount of his sources listed.[3]
Promotion and release
[edit]Secret Waters was released on October 25, 2022. The alias "the Sun, Moon & Stars" is crediited as the album's executive producer. Its description comes with the following instructions: "ETERNAL LOVE. PEACE & BLACK POWER. PLAY LOUD."[4]
A limited run of 40 crewneck sweaters, bundled with a digital copy of Secret Waters, was released as a promotional item.[5] 100 red wine-colored vinyls were also pressed for its physical release.[4] The vinyls available on FXCK RXP's website come in five variants: "Black Is Beautiful", "Grey", "Marbled", "White", and "Trans".[2]
Reception
[edit]Secret Waters received positive reception from music publications. Eli Schoop of Dweller Forever said that the album's use of samples "provide a context by which black music can be discovered and placed into proper history." they added that "So much of black music has been wittingly or unwittingly lost, destroyed, or placed into disrepute. In consecrating very particular samples, Cities Aviv actively works against the invisibility of certain black music."[3] The featured review on FXCK RXP's website, credited to "Duncan Reviews", described the production style of Secret Waters as "far more focused" than Man Plays the Horn, "making up for its sibling's hyperactive tracklist with a crowded yet consistent collection of its own." He described the album's "soulful overtones" as "mentally stimulating and playfully lethargic at the same time, cutting and pasting Cities Aviv's central character into a well-edited slideshow of vintage soul vocals and string-swept instrumentals." Duncan concluded that Secret Waters was "by far one of the rapper's most significant statements, and he will no doubt go on to hone his craft to even greater heights."[2]
In their list of honorable mentions for the year's best rap albums, HipHopGoldenAge staff opined that, "No doubt Cities Aviv is an artist for a niche audience, but people who slept on him up to now just might be in for a nice surprise if and when they give Working Title For The Album Secret Waters a chance."[6]
Track listing
[edit]All lyrics are written by Gavin Mays; all music is composed by Gavin Mays, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Composer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Towards Understanding" | 2:47 | |
| 2. | "Chozen / The Prevalence of Issues" | Lukah | 3:56 |
| 3. | "Funktion" | 2:44 | |
| 4. | "Slave Pay" | Lukah | 1:53 |
| 5. | "Aktion" | 2:07 | |
| 6. | "Knowing Is..." | Lukah | 1:39 |
| 7. | "Go-Go Girl" | 1:40 | |
| 8. | "Man at the Bridge" | 2:09 | |
| 9. | "Connection's Chance" | Lukah | 2:43 |
| 10. | "Song 10" | 2:56 | |
| 11. | "Open" | 4:48 | |
| 12. | "Mysticism Redesigned" | 4:06 | |
| 13. | "4 Quarter Talks" | 1:23 | |
| 14. | "Cypress" | 2:47 | |
| 15. | "Serenity Rite" | Lukah | 2:51 |
| 16. | "Lifer" | 2:42 | |
| 17. | "Strange Ways A Coming" | 4:03 | |
| Total length: | 47:14 | ||
Credits and personnel
[edit]Credits adapted from Tidal[7] and Bandcamp.[4]
- Gavin Mays – lyricist (all tracks), composer (1, 3, 5, 7–8, 10–14, 16–17)
- Timothy Love – composer (2, 4, 6, 9, 15)
- Hollow Sol – mastering (all tracks)
- ^ a b c Gillespie, Blake (2023-01-11). "Reinventing Cities Aviv". Bandcamp Daily. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ a b c "CITIES AVIV". FXCK RXP. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ a b Schoop, Eli. "Hearing nothing told to me: Cities Aviv and Sampling as Secrecy". dwellerforever.blog. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ a b c ""Working Title For The Album Secret Waters", by Cities Aviv". Cities Aviv. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ ""WORKING TITLE FOR THE ALBUM SECRET WATERS" Promo Crewneck from Cities Aviv". Cities Aviv. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ "Best Hip Hop Albums Of 2022 – The Honorable Mentions". Hip Hop Golden Age. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
- ^ Cities Aviv - Working Title For The Album Secret Waters, 2022-10-25, retrieved 2025-06-01