Crystal Castles: ‘Vanished’

So it’s been noted that Crystal Castles don’t actually write a lot of their music, but what’s to write? Ethan Kath programmes his SNES to malfunction, laces over some analogue beats and endless Atari loops, and Alice Glass hypnotically whispers over the discordance / electro lull. Delete as applicable.

’Vanished’ pretty much follows the above. Although written by Van She, it still requires the Crystal Castles duo to calculatingly stamp their stand offish brand of synth pop all over it - performing it like a pair of snotty Depeche Mode drones. Sample. Distort. Add megaphone. This isn’t where electro music’s headed, but much like DFA 1979 before them, Crystal Castles have long been a welcome, abrasive sideline.

Released on 21st July 2008 by Last Gang Records.

Written by Reef Younis.