Page Of Cups (Reversed)

Ciska Ciska is the project of Ghent-based Ciska Dhaenens, a singer-songwriter with the ability to wrap fragile strength in beautiful songs. With subtle guitar, piano and a golden voice, Dhaenens draws the listener into her inner world, where she stands both vulnerably and fearlessly. Her debut album ‘Page Of Cups (Reversed)’ is out September 11th.

Announcing herself in the spring of 2025 with debut single ‘Biotope’, Ciska Ciska immediately charmed with her blend of indie folk, Americana and alt-country, nodding to heroes like Julia Jacklin and Adrianne Lenker. “I wrote Biotope because I realised at some point that there is always beauty, even when we're going through the darkest passages of life. There's a lot of comfort in that.” Life hadn’t exactly been easy for young Ciska, and this album closes a chapter defined by doubt and anxiety. “This record feels like one big coming-of-age story, where I finally dare to put myself and my vulnerability on a pedestal.”

Another track built around her warm, expressive voice is ‘Angel’, exploring love as a guiding light out of a dark period. But love can also break, as heard on singles ‘Jump Right In’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’. The first tackles a difficult relationship, wrapped in catchy indie rock that channels Boygenius and Jenny Lewis, while Sweet Sixteen captures teenage heartbreak that can linger for years, its cathartic harmonies and chorus echoing 70s icons like Emmylou Harris.

While the music of Ciska Ciska is often intimate and melancholic, the guitar knows exactly when to bite — with shades of PJ Harvey and Sharon Van Etten surfacing on ‘Easy’ and ‘Utopia’. After a period of relational dependency, explored on Utopia, Dhaenens made a solo trip to Morocco to rediscover her independence, returning with ‘City Lights’, a kind of travel diary in song form. ‘Indoctrinate Me’ sees her sing openly about a difficult personal decision, while ‘Lovesong’ is an unguarded celebration of the love of her life — how they feel like home, and inspire her to be the best version of herself.

The album’s title, Page Of Cups (Reversed), came from a ritual Dhaenens and her friends affectionately call “friendship therapy sessions”: tarot cards. Drawing the reversed Page of Cups as her past card, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The card represents emotional immaturity, creative blockage and the ignoring of intuition: everything she had been wrestling with in the years prior. And while the album draws a line under that period, she knows that card will always be part of her. “The small, insecure Ciska still lives inside me, she's just no longer at the wheel. Look mom, I made an album!”

Page Of Cups (Reversed) was produced by MIA Award-winning producer Pieterjan Coppejans (Sylvie Kreusch) and mixed by Tobie Speleman (Dressed Like Boys, The Haunted Youth). With Lukja Vanaverbeke, Mathijs Steels and Lou De Smet, Dhaenens surrounds herself with an excellent band that makes just as strong an impression live, on fine stages like Best Kept Secret, Left of the Dial and Antwerp-based discovery festival We Are Open.

With a string of new shows coming up both in Belgium and abroad, the only way is up for an artist labelled as one to watch for 2026.