November last year, Toronto’s Casper Skulls released ‘Mercy Works,’ their debut LP. The album marked Casper Skulls as a tremendously promising young band and set them on a year of touring across North America, sharing stages with the likes of Land of Talk, SUUNS, Weaves, Charly Bliss, and The Kids and Shame.
Now, the band have released their first new music since the their LP, a track called O My Enemy to mark the start of Casper Skulls’ fall US tour (full tour details are below). The track gives a taste of a new direction for the band, who are currently working on a sophomore LP to be released next year. Where on their earlier material vocal and songwriting duties were split between Neil Bednis and Melanie Gail St Pierre, on their newer tracks St Pierre is taking the lead, which has resulted in a significant tonal shift, moving away the driving post punk of their last record for a more stripped down and reflective sound. Take a listen to the track via YouTube below.
St Pierre elaborates on the new single and the band’s shifting sound in conversation:
“O My Enemy” is about the conflict we can have with our inner child. As we grow up, our inner child dies a little bit as we start to navigate through life. The feeling of just enjoying a moment or doing something spontaneous happens more rarely. This song is dedicated to that small bit of us who we need to let out from time to time.
The song is a kind of transition song between our first album Mercy Works and what’s to come. I find a lot of the things I’m writing about right now happened to me when I was a child. Now that I’m this older person and I have all these anxieties, I feel like they are all a product of the loss of childhood. The focus of my songwriting is more internal instead of external. Before we were looking at things on the outside, observing society, observing situations. Now we’re looking on the inside. – Melanie Gail St Pierre
Casper Skulls’ Mercy Works is out now. It’s available for purchase here.
Tour dates
10/18 Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s Locker Room
10/19 Chicago, IL – Subterranean
10/20 Davenport, IA – Blackhawk Room
10/21 Minneapolis, MN – Fallout Urban Art Centre
10/22 Fargo, ND – The Aquarium
10/23 Winnipeg, MB – The Handsome Daughter
10/25 Saskatoon, SK – Black Cat
10/26 Edmonton, AB – The Sewing Machine Factory
10/27 Calgary, AB – Palomino
10/29 Vancouver, BC – Astoria
11/01 Seattle, WA – Victory Lounge
11/03 Berkeley, CA – 938 Gilman
11/05 Phoenix, AZ – Pebble Beach House
11/07 Denver, CO – 7th Circle
11/09 Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge
11/10 St Louis, MO – FOAM
11/11 Cincinnati, OH – TBD
11/12 Washington, DC – Songbyrd Vinyl Lounge
11/13 Philadelphia, PA – Cafè Blampe
11/14 New York City, NY – Transpecos
