By Monk
Back in late 2018 Welsh post-hardcore exponents Casey seemed to demonstrate that they knew how to disappear (sic) in a blaze of glory as, after a remarkably short career that produced just one EP (2015’s Fade) and two albums (2016 debut ‘Love Is Not Enough’ and 2018’s ‘Where I Go When I Am Sleeping’), they announced they were calling it a day. However, almost exactly five years later, they re-emerged from the darkness of the valleys, with a double A-side single and a run of comeback shows… now, they prove they are back (but for good?) with a third album…
What is obvious from the outset is that this is a band who have missed what they were doing and were hungry to get back to it. There is also a deep sense of melancholia, a sense of yearning for what they missed while they were away, as rather than hitting with a massive impact they draw us in slowly with tense opening to ‘Unique Lights’, which builds and then eases back again with alacrity and seminal ease, reminding of the Manics in delivery, intention and intonation: that, of course, is no bad thing at all…
After happily celebrating death, Casey become ‘Sanctimonious’ by being just that: justifiably arrogant and self-centred in their declarative return to doing what they do best, and that is producing emotional and emotive music, such as on ‘Puncture Wounds To Heaven’, which reaches deep into your own self-pity and rips it straight from the darkest recesses of its abandonment and exposes to the bright scrutiny of the daylight.
Now, I’ll admit to not having been a fan of Casey first time around, and didn’t really pay them much (if any) attention until this album landed in my inbox, so I cannot comment with any authority on their previous material. But, what I can say is this: ‘How To Disappear’ is a celebratory album, one which conjoins despair, empathy, harmony, joy and even mischievousness. It is a strident and declarative comeback, and one which serves as a salutary lesson in the need to take a break now and again…
- ‘How To Disappear’ is released on Friday 12 January.
- Casey tour in March and April.
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