The Casket Girls

 It was a Monday night. Its all fucking smeared together. I have to put events back in the right order. I saw The Casket Girls. They are sisters Phaedra and Elsa Greene and a live drummer, oh and I believe the singer for Stargazer Lillies playing guitar.   Very electronic, fuzzy, hazy and yet clean. They were touring for their second release True Love Kills The Fairy Tale. They played Empty Bottle.....hell I'm lucky if the fog lets me tell what happened from what was awesome. I remember that it was the peak, the climax to a long job, and a long drive. What little pre-concert research I did was all about Stargazer Lillies. None on Casket Girls. So even as I capture images and process the music, I still feel new to them.  They are touring for their second CD. Where was I for the first? They project this cool all knowing that is bored with its omnipotence. They are either too cool or too damn angry, and they cannot be bothered to show you their eyes, so there you go, sunglasses. Alright, I am quite taken with them. I do recall that. They present a compelling show. And I'm overwhelmed with their whole presentation, their stoic sexy robotic dance, the mysterious sunglasses, the sexy...everything. I was in awe of it. Friends behind me, some were not buying it. Fell below their threshold I suppose, and I understand that sentiment. One thing that strikes you as off and the entire presentation comes apart. Perhaps it was the robotic moves and sunglasses that can strike as distancing and alienating instead of exotic, curious. I was into it. I did not bother with analysis, ran from it. Instead the curiosity kept me close. Is it a seething, simmering rage or indifference behind the sunglasses. Not suggesting the girls have actual grudges against the world, or are indifferent to it, off stage. This is about the deliberate image they project and what for me the subtext to it is. I don't recall too many bands that project any image as The Casket Girls do. They just get up on stage, set up and play. Maybe they dress up.....alright, I'm recalling more that do dress up. Most don't dress any differently than the audience. Some of the local bands I notice wear the same clothes.......Alright that is more a testament to how many times I see them.
  So I was really into what Casket Girls performed and how they did it. Wait.....I don't just remember the visual side of the show. The sisters are very catchy songwriters. Some of the songs now are really sinking in. It took some time for me. The sisters sing together in this breathy collective voice. You can clearly hear and almost recite with them what they sing. In part its because of the similar pace that all the songs have. They all are worthy of a dance floor......just not three in a row. So if you bought the music and are going through some fatigue, wait it out. What attracted you to the band is still there. I was introduced to their music in one crash course night. I bought both CDs, including Sleepwalking. To try to take all that music down is like watching Man vs Food. You know you're not enjoying that last bite, and your starting to forget what got you to like it to begin with. I once ate too many Veggie Bite Philly Steak sandwiches......that was more my fault, actually.  You can over-dose on the band and that may spoil the chances of exploring further. Give them some time. The sisters are worth it. It was at first difficult to later find the differences that made the individual songs stand out. That is actually why this blog post took so long.....really. I'm coming back around to loving this band. Individual tracks are starting to stick out again. This includes the title track.
Give It All Away had me in seconds. They all have that something that hooks you immediately. To write about the individual songs..... This is gonna be a long write. Fuck it. I can't help it. Around the first minute of almost every song, a pace is established that never changes. They seem to roughly have the same pace.  This is where the live drummer helps to ground them, and gives them torque.....did I use that last word right?  He was quite enthused. I liked him, he was good and he kept the attention on the girls singing. What he did helped to make the singers look and sound good. The live drumming helps, they are the tractor wheels on the ground that keep they singers from sounding too aloof. Perfect Little Soul got me late as well after that one wave of fatigue faded and left me free to enjoy the discovery of this band all over again.  You know what. Its nice to write a good concluding sentence....right now all I can do is grind this post to a halt.
Zig