A project from the notoriously prolific garage-punk kingpin
Ty Segall,
the C.I.A. is a collaboration between
Ty and his spouse Denée Segall, who had previously worked with his group
GØGGS and handled photography and design for many of his album covers. Like much of
Ty's music,
the C.I.A.'s sound is lo-fi garage-oriented rock & roll, with plenty of dirty guitars and stripped-down melodies, while Denée handles the lead vocals with a vintage drum machine holding down the percussion in tandem with a live drummer.
The
C.I.A. made their debut with a handful of live shows in 2018; on-stage, the group featured
Ty Segall on guitar, Denée Segall on vocals,
Emmett Kelly of
the Cairo Gang on bass, and drummer R.E. Carlos. The group made their recording debut with a small-run cassette-only EP available at their live shows; the tape, with an aging rhythm machine taking the drummer's place on most tracks, included four original tunes and a cover of "Magazine Love" by synth-punk pioneers the Screamers. In December 2018,
the C.I.A. released a full-length, self-titled album via In the Red Records; it was the sixth album
Ty Segall released in 2018. ~ Mark Deming