Crystal CastlesRemember that scene in Donnie Darko where Drew Barrymore's English-teacher character claims the words 'cellar door' are the most beautiful of all the phrases in the English language? If she'd waited a few more years, she might've said that or 'Crystal Castles'. The name of this Canadian band is so perfectly chosen, depending on your own mindset, setting you up to anticipate fragile beauty or shiny fun. (III) definitely belongs in the former camp. It's frangible, enveloped in darkness and dry ice. What it isn't is packed full of hits.
Goth-inclined technophiles will be sated (goths don't do 'delighted, do they?) by the sparseness. Apparently, most of the album was recorded in one take, trying to capture spontaneity in the studio so nobody can accuse the Castles of over-producing here. Alienation is rampant and should you find yourself in a dimly-lit German sex club with absolute destructive hedonism on your agenda, don't be surprised if this album forms the soundtrack. Think I'm over dramatising? Hear Alice Glass scream “Virgin cells to penetrate” in the scary-ass opener Plague and that image will stick in your head for days.
It sometimes works to trancey effect (Violent Youth), while Wrath Of God and Sad Eyes channel early Faithless. In places, the over-efficiency creates a sense that the work simply hasn't been finished and Glass's vocals seem intentionally lost in the mix, adding to the claustrophobia. The detachment from the neon dancefloor is familiar territory to those who endured Simian Mobile Disco's underwhelming recent release, but (III) is rather more successful in its execution. It's far from perfectly formed but there's enough to get lost in.
