Storytelling, synths and supernatural

Just one year ago I found myself up against the stage of a dark Austin, TX bar as two mysterious women opened their mouths to let something inside them escape. What I heard haunted me as hypnotic drumming and static drones carpeted the enchanting vocals. I was transfixed. The sounds in the air were gorgeous and yet the two singers stood absolutely still, indulgently dressed, and with huge L.A.- type sunglasses on, despite the venue. The Casket Girls are Georgia sisters Elsa and Phaedra Greene along with Black Moth Super Rainbow’s Ryan Graveface. They create freakishly bewitching synth pop, either thanks to their niche label, Graveface Records, or thanks to some unearthly possession within them. On their second LP, the sisters take a more fantastical and upbeat approach to songwriting as opposed to darker themes on 2012’s Sleepwalking. Yet the content is still deeply poetic, with lines about outer body metaphors to heaven, daydreams, love, the universe, nature and tons of folktale imagery. While the entire album seems to melt into one, this speaks to how The Casket Girls entrance with ethereality and processed drones. The fingerpicking undertones of the title track, the chill-wave vibe of “Holding You Back” enriched with all sorts of tappings, Graveface’s unique percussion and guitar backbones, sugary bells and the girls’ oddly childish voices, come at you all at once and put you under a spell. But my, nor anyone’s review, can do The Casket Girls justice – so please listen for yourself.

RIYL: Black Moth Super Rainbow, iamamiwhoami, Blue Hawaii
Recommended: 1-3, 5, 7