Cassels – Epithet (Big Scary Monsters)
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| Cassels - Epithet |
Release Date: Out Now
Chipping Norton brothers Cassels
may have produced one of the most important albums of 2017 with their debut ‘Epithet’.
Now, I’m not saying it’s the best necessarily but what the duo have done here
is create a collection of nine raw and urgent songs that speak exactly of the
kind of world we find ourselves in right now from a very British perspective. Opening with some deceptively optimistic
guitar notes and cymbal work, ‘Coup’ soon erupts in a clash of angry chords and
erupting drums before the opening line, the first many brilliant lyrical barbs
delivered by Jim Beck; “we form an
army of waifs and strays, caught somewhere
between the minimum and living wage”.
‘Let’ opens with sombre recorded
speech (Churchill, I presume) before that sound clash kicks off again with
something akin to At the Drive-In levels of power, chaos and aggression as the
brothers take on the spread of EDL/BNP/UKIP racist acronymic ideology within
the suburbs of middle England. On ‘War is a Really Clever Metaphor for Divorce’, there is a definite feeling that they’ve
been listening to the bleaker corners of Jamie Lenman’s work while ‘Where
Baseball Was Invented’ continues the angular, experimental and angry theme with
relentless energy – there are no ballads to be found here so stop looking. The
reason that this album is so important is partly because it is unashamedly not
looking to be popular or sell big numbers, partly because the lyrics are so
wonderfully spot on and partly because the music takes from the great pioneers
of guitar music and protest like the Fall, At the Drive-In, Million Dead,
Reuben, the Sex Pistols and numerous others. Big footsteps to follow in.
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| Cassels - the brothers Beck |
The lumbering drums that begin ‘You
Turn on Utopia’ are soon joined by a rippling guitar line and those dead pan
vocals that are a trade mark of the band. ‘Sepia Good Times’ is a shattering,
blood curdling wake-up call to anyone still living in or for a version of the
past that has no relevance or today’s reality, all set to Jazz tinged guitar
and drum interplay. For 55 seconds, ‘This Song Has A’ screams in your face like
a drunk Mike Skinner pumped up on Carlsberg and clarity with lyrics that come
rapid fire; “Don’t rile her up, back in next day with Kalashnikovs, done in a
train just outside Lowestoft, who knows what they’re capable of? Who knows what
they’re capable of? Lock them up. Re-open the asylums”. There is a moment of
calm on Motor Skills that is closer to Billy Bragg than anything else but with
that familiar unpredictability and aggression.
The album closes on probably it’s
most melodic moment in ‘Chewed Up Cheeks’ where an actual riff meets the kind
of lyric that makes you smile and feel sad at the same time, “one of those days
where your face feels like a Papier Mache approximation of a face”. Half way
through, there’s some spoken word from around the 40s or 50s about thinking of
yourself as a pressure cooker before the brothers use up every last morsel of
energy and then leave a rhythmic feedback loop stuttering in to the ether as a
goodbye, of sorts. Destined to fill stadiums? Not on your life but destined to
fill minds with ideas, questions and new thoughts, for sure. And I don’t think
they’d have it any other way.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/casselsband/
Live Dates:
15th November – Green Door Store, Brighton
w/Single Mothers
16th November – Kamio, London
17th November – The Flapper, Birmingham w/Single
Mothers
18th November – Star And Garter, Manchester
w/Single Mothers
19th November – 13th Note, Glasgow
w/Single Mothers
21st November – Brudenell Community Room, Leeds
w/Single Mothers
22nd November – The Bodega, Nottingham w/Single
Mothers
23rd November – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff w/Single
Mothers