Casey - How To Disappear (Album Review)
Casey – How To Disappear
Released: January 12, 2024
Lineup
Tom Weaver // Vocals
Liam Torrance // Lead Guitar
Toby Evans // Rhythm Guitar
Adam Smith // Bass
Max Nicolai // Drums
Online
The act of exploring human emotion at its rawest state is a feat many find hard to come by. This is all the more amplified within musical expression, finding balances between lyrics and instruments to convey a story much bigger than the elements at hand. Casey, however, has been no stranger to this ordeal, and has instead become one of the most capturing, alluring, and eloquent bands when it comes to the delivery of impassioned, harrowing, and at times, neglected emotions. This proves no different in their third album, one that marks their return after a reflective break away from music. Touching at every moment, of utmost vulnerability, and beautiful in its presentation, How To Disappear, is yet another addition to Casey’s heart-wrenching collection, and one to stay with you for quite some time.
‘Unique Lights’ offers an ambient and reverberating opening to How To Disappear, inviting calmness and serenity to the beginning of this album- foundations that are set to be built upon and toyed with greatly. Soft ringing and a heightening, yet slight, drumbeat begin to get the heart racing, all culminating in harsher rolling drums and that signature vocal performance. Immediately diving into the band’s layered storytelling, ‘Unique Lights’ leaves almost no room to breathe, personifying the feelings of having so much to share since their last body of work. The chorus swims between delicate high notes and entrancing, comforting softer mid notes, like a guiding hand fluctuating through the passiveness of these emotions. In track one, the album already introduces such a dynamic and vulnerable tone, and of course, a feeling we are not to escape with the Welsh outfit. Instrumentally and vocally, it invades your space, letting that sinking feeling in your gut flourish. ‘Unique Lights’ is a retrospective and melancholic exploration of one’s mental fragility, and a dichotomous outlook on presenting oneself outwardly versus the feelings that linger within.
Once again projecting themselves from an ambient instrumental beginning, ‘I Was Happy When You Died’ immediately pours itself into an alluring discussion of self-reflection, the value of memories, and rearranging moments that were once certain to proceed. Testament to Casey’s usual style, what remains one of their most valiant features is their songwriting. Truthful, raw, and at times, uncomfortable, the band stirs a conversation not only with themselves, but with the audience, penetrating the circle of ‘untouchable topics’ and ‘things better left unsaid’ to deliver themselves at their most honest. With passionate instrumentals, the crashing drums emulate the same passion embedded in the pleas and words sung. Closing with a nod to the album’s namesake, a sweet feeling is left on the tongue as the song reaches a soft and gentle instrumental and emotional conclusion.
Diving into the track with a firm strum, ‘Sanctimonious’ adopts a more shoegaze-type role.
Upon first listen, I found myself repeatedly rewinding and relistening to the first tempo change, one that harmoniously transitions thanks to a skillful guitar intertwinement that accelerates into a fast-paced and layered chorus. ‘Sanctimonious’ also offers listeners a first glimpse into Weaver’s infecting and guttural screams, inflicting immense pain and anguish among the delicate; a juxtaposition that is never tiresome, and always impressive in this outfit. The desperate cries of belonging to one another and losing autonomy, but in a positive manner, are a poignant part of this track, tying themes of potential loss and the anticipation of longing into the story world so embedded with apathy and the exclusion of this type of reflection.
‘For Katie’ not merely introduces itself, but uses its fast-paced drums, outlined with a heavy instrumental backing to accelerate itself into your ears. The track asserts its place as a reflective anthem that conjures an introspectiveness and yearning to recall the past, personified by the gentle approach of the vocals and mounds of questioning within the verses, amplified by the angst embedded into the chorus. This track pulls at the heartstrings, and ceases to disconnect from the mind of the audience for its duration; an individual story drawn into a shared experience for all who listen.
As the last single before the big release, Casey dropped ‘Selah’, a song that creates and houses a hauntingness that is almost tangible as its own entity. With a slight ring and echo, so too is a weight of emotion brought to the performance through each element. It does not take poignant expression for Casey to effectively brood and outwardly showcase their expression, and for them, perhaps hits harder in these moments of sheer vulnerability and fragility, allowing what they say, and how they say it, to do the work. ‘Selah’ creeps in before ascending to a layered feat of instrumentals, a culmination of the longing and development of confusion showcased in Tom Weaver‘s vocals. The final pleas that drown out almost everything else and redirect the attention to a human, individualized narrator become a jarring reminder of the rawness cramped into these tracks, and the truth that lingers in the harshness of the emotions given, almost as vibrant as the day the track was recorded. It stings more and more as the chaos surrounding the plea ensues, leaving this track one that engrains itself for some time to come.
Following is ‘Bite Through My Tongue’, another single, fast-paced and vibrant. Arguably this track has one of the most memorable choruses, with a mix of poppier instrumentals that fly in after a chugging guitar tone from the verses, reflected by deep and emotive screams. For me, this track, as a single, was a perfect choice. Hypnotising, it is one of the songs I find myself consistently drawn back to. Its loud, unrelenting nature leaves no room for isolation and consistently has you hooked. This, mixed with the sheer angst, perfectly conjured by all features of the band, sees this song become a great representation of the album as a whole, as well as solidifying its own place within the entire body of work.
One thing I find striking in this album is the allowance for the instrumentals to have their moment. Whether it be delicate sturms creating an ambient sound, or rolling drums expressing the sincere and utter feelings of betrayal and anger, the album pays respect to them as a vessel of storytelling. This comes to complete fruition in ‘St Peter’, an interlude of sorts that showcases a short feat of beautiful piano and raw, distant vocals. ‘Those That I’m Survived By’ also proves no different, using sporadic guitar notes to create an atmospheric surrounding, or punching drums to perfectly back up Weaver’s vocals. This track perhaps hit me the most, particularly in the bridge, which captures Casey’s vocal performance at their most dire, desperate, hurt, and expressive. The sentiment swiftly reaches from the album and grabs your throat, a lump building in it- all testament to the band’s unwavering ability to transform and connect to its listeners.
‘Puncture Wounds To Heaven’ brands itself through its ethereal vocal performance that cautiously builds up to a screaming, passionate breakdown that hones in on the feelings of apathy and guilt toyed with within the buildup, offering a conclusion to the questioning and tribulations that encase the entire song. Personally, this single marks one of the most jarring tracks on the record, seeing a narrator abandon one’s own sense of self, and attempt to appease those around them, but fail to find solace or connection in frugal attempts to reinsert oneself back into a functioning emotional and connective state. Aptly, it is one of the most heartbreaking and emotionally enduring songs from How To Disappear, illustrating a showcase of the complete transparency of the band’s discussion of mental health and the human experience.
Next up is ‘Space Between’. The track creates a different type of all-encompassing soundscape, a floating cosmos that surrounds you. For lack of a better word, it is quite simply pretty. The song is a tranquil moment that oozes and aches with regret, yet finds a certain comfort in its presentation. Relying on this feeling for most of the song, before a final acceleration of energy and volume forced upon by the realization that “you’ll never look at me like that again”, one final sucker-punch is hit to the audience. Moments of quiet and self-determined loathing suddenly outwardly bursting into an expression of realization is one that is jarring, but musically gorgeous, fuelled by a seamless transition. It is one of the most beautiful tracks off the record.
Somber and atmospheric, ‘Blush’ presents itself with deeper vocals that feel worn and tired, an aching persona that is put on for this track. And it is a gut-wrenching persona of that. The approach to the song is non-flamboyant, at its purest form and most vulnerable, which arguably presents the most enduring and prevailing feeling of the persistent emotions of the album. ‘Blush’ relies on this conjured feeling throughout the duration of the track, from the start to the finish, hosting this same heaviness that fails to fluctuate or lift. It is almost as though a mirror image of the persona held up to you for the entire song, creating an inescapable transference of these same emotions onto you. With a delicate fade out, you are left to do nothing but ponder.
The concluding namesake track ‘How To Disappear’ now offers its hand to finalise the body of work, and does it deliver. A reflective undertone finds itself beautifully but not intrusively inserted, rounding out the body of work that has taken all its strength to divulge feelings of grief, loneliness, apathy, and self-loathing. In the same breath, it houses the biggest battle against these feelings, adopting feelings of guilt, self-reflection, and a recognition of the importance that may linger around this narrator figure, a glimmer of growth toward the inescapable burdens that made themselves the foundation of this album. So too, the track holds one of my favourite lines of the album, “the vespertine reluctance to stay awake”. As a conclusion, it ties the narrative of the album up, and begins to unravel the solitary struggles faced for the eleven tracks before it. This retrospectiveness is beautifully crafted through a chorus that inescapably pulls you in, begging for an answer to the question of How To Disappear.
How To Disappear is Casey’s heart on a platter. It is an auditory manifestation of their deepest feelings, and an articulation of the of deepest and darkest parts of their mind. As a body of work, it travels through moments that collide with one another and reflect upon the growth and change from song to song. Alone, each track is a vulnerable snippet into the rawest and most vulnerable of emotions, unlocking a barrier between the listener in every instance to reach out and touch you in the most beautiful of ways. The album has proven that Casey has returned with their fundamental values behind them- to embody feelings, tell stories, and stay true to their creativity through musical endeavours. How To Disappear is a perfect return.
Casey – How To Disappear tracklisting
1. Unique Lights
2. I Was Happy When You Died
3. Sanctimonious
4. For Katie
5. Selah
6. Bite Through My Tongue
7. Those That I’m Survived By
8. St Peter
9. Puncture Wounds To Heaven
10. Space Between
11. Blush
12. How To Disappear
Rating 9.5 / 10
How To Disappear is out on January 12, 2024 via Greyscale Records here
Review by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002
