CIA

From Lost Waves Wiki

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as unsolved.

CIA
Alternative name(s) Coming Home / This Winter / Season at the CIA
Genre Post Punk
Year c. 1984
Original poster datafreq
Search started 2020
File:CIA.mp3

CIA (also known as "Are You Coming Home", "This Winter" or "Season At The CIA") is an unknown post-punk song uploaded to YouTube in 2020 by DJFormaldehyde.

Origins and Search[edit | edit source]

On February 21, 2020, user datafreq first uploaded the song to the New Wave Outpost forums, sourced from a cassette tape recorded in Canada in 1984.[1]

On April 8, 2020, the song's lyrics were uploaded to the music identification website Spirit of Radio by user Synthman78, claiming that it was a new wave song from 1985.[2]

DJFormaldehyde posted CIA to YouTube and the New Wave Outpost forums on July 20, 2020.[3] The song was discovered on a tape made by a friend of DJFormaldehyde that included songs recorded from CFNY-FM Spirit of Radio,[4] a Canadian radio station known at the time for playing new wave, electronic, and alternative music.[5]

The song was likely not recorded after July 1984 because the song "You Think You're A Man" by American performance artist Divine, which was released in July 1984, was the newest song on the tape.[6] The majority of the songs on the tape were British in origin, dating from 1980 to 1984.[7]

The search for CIA gained traction in November 2021, with the song making its way to the lostwave subreddit and being reuploaded multiple times that year.[8] This was also the year that Alan Cross, who was a radio broadcaster at CFNY from 1986 onwards, uploaded the song to his website, broadening the search.[9]

It is assumed that CIA was aired once as part of CFNY's annual Talent Search contest. The contest airs fifty songs annually, typically broadcasting bands with zero exposure or releases.[10]

Leads[edit | edit source]

Possible[edit | edit source]

  • Bradford Reaves: CIA Blues:[11][12] Unlikely, because Reaves' known music is in the folk rock style.

Debunked[edit | edit source]

  • 4th Floor - Coming Home: An early lead suggested that the song was by the Alternative Rock band 4th Floor, as they had a song on Discogs called "Coming Home" that was released in 1984.[13] At the time, the album was not uploaded; however, when the cassette was converted and uploaded, this lead was disproven.[14][15]
  • Zebra - CIA:[16]
  • The Reform - CIA: In early 2024, speculation centered on the song "CIA" by The Reform, a rock/power pop song released in 1986 by a US band.[17] This was aided by the fact that the track length corresponded to the commonly uploaded length for the lost song CIA.[18] This lead was debunked after the vinyl was digitized and the song was uploaded.[19]
  • Conditioned Response:[20]
  • The Switch - Coming Home:[21]

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. https://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42844
  2. https://spiritofradio.ca/SongComments.asp?SongID=3233
  3. https://www.nwoutpost.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=43033
  4. https://spiritofradio.ca/SongSearchAdd.asp
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q46N3IYg0Y
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q46N3IYg0Y&lc=Ugy8fLb1rOtbRp6ihmt4AaABAg.9eBIl25Qaqt9eE84dacDLB
  7. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1eg9tk0/regarding_the_cia_recording_my_friend_who_owns/
  8. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/r0tr1t/cia_unknown_postpunk_song_recorded_in_canada/
  9. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/interested-in-solving-some-musical-mysteries-try-to-identify-these-songs/
  10. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1d5nyli/cia_an_update/
  11. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/18vmgjb/i_might_have_found_the_artist_who_made_the_cia/
  12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5fRCT1hWAw
  13. https://www.discogs.com/release/12448615-4th-Floor-4th-Floor
  14. https://www.youtube.com/embed/SDTrvxl8XOQ
  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q46N3IYg0Y&lc=UgzVpvg3_93l-HR2MFh4AaABAg
  16. https://www.youtube.com/embed/WCHmjJ72rXY
  17. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/189yuf7/hmmmmmmmmm/
  18. https://www.discogs.com/release/13839352-The-Reform-CIA-Gimme-Your-Love
  19. https://archive.org/details/the-reform-cia
  20. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1amcyrf/conditioned_response_is_not_responsible_for_cia/
  21. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lostwave/comments/1d4u0r8/cia_isnt_coming_home_by_the_switch/