CIA

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ⓘ This lostwave is classified as unsolved.

CIA
Alternative name(s) Coming Home / This Winter / Season at the CIA
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 21st, 2020, user datafreq first uploaded the song to the New Wave Outpost forums, sourced from a cassette tape recorded in Canada in 1984.[1]

DJFormaldehyde posted CIA to YouTube and the New Wave Outpost forums on July 20, 2020.[2] The song was discovered on a tape made by a friend of DJFormaldehyde that included songs recorded from CFNY-FM Spirit of Radio,[3] a Canadian radio station known at the time for playing new wave, electronic, and alternative music.[4]

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.[5] The majority of the songs on the tape were British in origin, dating from 1980 to 1984.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9]

Leads[edit | edit source]

Possible[edit | edit source]

  • Bradford Reaves: CIA Blues:[10][11] 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.[12] At the time, the album was not uploaded; however, when the cassette was converted and uploaded, this lead was disproven.[13][14]
  • Zebra - CIA:[15]
  • 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.[16] This was aided by the fact that the track length corresponded to the commonly uploaded length for the lost song CIA.[17] This lead was debunked after the vinyl was digitized and the song was uploaded.[18]
  • Conditioned Response:[19]
  • The Switch - Coming Home:[20]

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]