Casket Girls may be purveyors of a dark gothic pop, but the Savannah trio has found a way to make their shadowy musical work somehow comfortingly inviting. Consisting of sisters Phaedra and Elsa Greene and Graveface Records’ own Ryan Graveface, the band has been perfecting this heavy, warm dream pop by consistently releasing an album a year, including 2014’s True Love Kills the Fairy Tale and 2015’s The Piano Album. With their latest effort, The Night Machines, they once again seek the light in the gloom.
New single “Virginia Beach” does this job with impeccable craft. For one, the chorus is sweetly optimistic, begging, “They say, ‘move to Virginia Beach/ The air is clean, nothing’s out of reach’/ Won’t you practice what you preach?/ And come with me to Virginia Beach.” For two, the music itself plays with twilight sounds like one might play with a rotary light dimmer. Teetering drum machines clock the rhythm as synth notes splash down on a heavy background drone. All that electronic noise would seem to risk murking up the track, yet the sisters’ vocals and a swirling guitar strain keep the whole thing just skimming the surface of darkness.
“‘Virginia Beach’ is an Ode to Edgar Cayce,” Elsa Greene explains to Consequence of Sound, referencing American mystic and father of the New Age Movement once dubbed “The Sleeping Prophet.” “Phay and I have been obsessed with Edgar Cayce since 2007 when we first read Edgar Cayce’s Atlantis. Part of our admiration has bled into love. Edgar, if you can hear us, and I know you can, we shall meet you on the other side!”
Due out June 3rd via Graveface, Welcome to the Night Machines can be pre-ordered now. You can also catch The Casket Girls performing the new material on the following tour dates.
Casket Girls 2016 Tour Dates:
06/08 – Savannah, GA @ Dollhouse *
06/09 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn *
06/10 – Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s *
06/11 – Washington DC @ Songbyrd *
06/12 – New York City, NY @ Mercury Lounge * #
06/13 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott * #
06/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Boot & Saddle *
06/15 – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Cafe *
06/16 – Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub ^
06/17 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean ^ $
06/18 – St Paul, MN @ Turf Club ^
06/21 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza &
06/22 – Portland, OR @ White Eagle &
06/24 – San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge &
06/25 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place &
06/26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater &
06/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
06/29 – Austin, TX @ The Sidewinder *
06/30 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links *
07/01 – Norman, OK @ The Opolis *
* = w/ Hospital Ships
# = w/ TW Walsh
^ = w/ Dott
& = w/ Night School
$ = w/ Maritime
