Crystal Castles opening track from their debut LP in 2008 was a paranoid but melodicly soothing introduction to their take on the burgeoning but already too trendy for its own good french art-house synth scene. They were more melodramatic and frenetic than their contemporaries but they carried with them an intriguing sense of mystery that they gently laid out before you. Two years later, there is no such hand holding or coddling. This time the opening track, “Fainting Spells” begins with a grating raucous before balancing into something more palatable to the ears. Depending on your attitude, balance is something Crystal Castles struggles to find this time around. Much of the album finds its euphonic melodies and beats overwhelmed and even assaulted by cacophonous, blunt, and abrupt freak outs. By comparison, their first album could be described as easy listening. There are still a number of sleek gently flowing tracks such as the dreamy “Celestica” or the sparkling twighlight melody “Vietnam”, but even these are often punctuated or prefaced by bizarre audio distortions.
Once you get used to tension of unknown outbursts to come however, one appreciates all the effort and success that come from such experimentation. “Doe Deer” is as abrasive as it gets, but is actually one of the more melodicly focused tracks. “Intimate” takes its time allowing you to get accustomed to its beat before tearing it apart with a 20 second or so static shit storm. As you begin to question the motivations of a group that would ever consider recording such noise, the initial beat begins to fight back. A deep penetrating bass line kicks in with a cleansing gravitas and you realize why that schizophrenic blitz was there in the first place; to make the climax all the more impressive. Closer examination to many songs reveal their talent for balancing and mixing as simply adjusting the levels and prominence of existing beats and rhythms greatly affects the tone and content of songs like “Fainting Spells” and “Birds” for the better.
As with their first album, Crystal Castles distinct approach to language and vocals is very much present here- more so even. Alice Glass's vocals are altered, distorted, manipulated, deconstructed and reconstructed, and repurposed. The end result is barley comprehendable on a couple tracks like “Empathy” but for the most part unrecognizable. Its not as if it doesn't sound like language, quite the opposite actually as it feels like the group has crafted an entirely new and much more pleasing syntax- one that was designed for music. That's what so frustrating yet compelling about the whole affair; they created a unique array of vocals that we want to understand but we lack the logical points of reference and interpretive context to discern anything beyond mysterious sounds. By the time you reach the last third of the album you stop trying though, instead focusing on its delivery and tone; things like sense of urgency or playful aloofness. Through this, meaning can be derived. Such tactics are present in their earlier work but here it is explored with much more depth and variety. Not always with as much success however, at least as far as being crowd pleasing is concerned. The amount of depth and exploration here can result in a overly dense and cluttered album at times in comparison to their leaner easier to follow debut.
It depends on what your in the mood for perhaps. Their first album may have been more conventional and appealing in terms of rhythm, but this time there is much more to interpret and analyze which in the end is vastly more fulfilling. Whether or not this album sounds better is not necessarily relevant when determining if this album is a success. This album is a positive contribution because it shows that the group has managed to take great strides in escaping the confines of a blase sub genre that has already lost much relevance and been relegated to the me too scenster bin. This is a feat that groups like Justice and MSTRKRFT have yet to accomplish. MGMT boldly attempted something similar but instead came off as bat shit insane. Crystal Castles however have proven their talent for expansive, experimental, and compelling work- even if we don't quite get it.
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