In 2015, Casper Skulls emerged as one of the most exciting new bands in Toronto thanks to their self-released King Of Gold 7-inch. Growing up in the tightly knit scenes of Sudbury and Oakville, members developed a studied sound combining shoegaze guitar sprawl, post-punk brood and the hazy charms of 90s indie rock. On the strength of their live shows, the quartet was snapped up by local label Buzz Records, who’ve helped fuel their biggest blast to date.
Channelling canonized influences like Sonic Youth, Pavement and the Fall, Casper Skulls clearly know their rock history. Take the title of their Lips & Skull EP, an arcane reference to Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell’s pen-pal correspondence. However, the band can also be viewed alongside contemporaries Parquet Courts and Speedy Ortiz, nodding to the past while pushing musical touch points and personal politics into the present.
Dual vocalists/guitarists Neil Bednis and Melanie Gail St-Pierre and the super-charged rhythm section of bassist Fraser McClean and drummer Chris Anthony propel Casper Skulls’ loud-quiet-loud dynamics. Devotion opens the EP with squealing stomps and lyrics about inner turmoil over loyalty to sports teams, religions and justice systems. On the title track, singer St-Pierre invokes the minimalist malaise of Kim Gordon as she rails against “high-brow tastemakers [who] couldn’t spare a dollar.” The fantasy football continues with Errands, imagining Stephen Malkmus in the dreamy fog of Daydream Nation.
Closer Caught On A Wire bottles all of the band’s abilities with chanted choruses in a surge of interlaced riffs, pedal squall and brain-battering rhythms. The mini epic is spoken-sung from the perspective of “a button-pusher in a long line of profits” crying out to “teach me devotion, ponder my shame.” With everyday existential angst informed by their heroes of the indie underground, this band could be your life.
Top track: Caught On A Wire
Casper Skulls play a release show Saturday (November 26) at the Baby G with Bart and Little Junior. See listing.
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