Tag: ryan graveface

ALBUM REVIEW: True Love Kills the Fairy Tale

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“It feels as though we found each other, when we reflect back on the myriad of minutia decisions that were made to cross paths at that exact point in time,” says Phaedra Greene of the fateful day when she and sister Elsa met producer/songwriter Ryan Graveface. The story goes that Ryan stumbled upon the sisters singing and playing autoharp under a tree in a park in Savannah, GA, and the trio have been collaborating as The Casket Girls for the two or so years since. Phaedra continues, “it begs the question, was it the first time we met?”

This mystic sensibility is what the group have become known for, to an extent, and it colors the sound of their upcoming sophomore album, True Love Kills the Fairy Tale, out Feb. 11th via Graveface Records. The ten-track record comes with its own bizarre backstory: allegedly, all of the lyrics were written in one night while the sisters were in some sort of semi-conscious dream state (“Elsa was sobbing and reciting poetry while Phaedra was just staring straight ahead and writing it all down, like catatonic,” according to Ryan) and they have no recollection of it at all. But despite these questionable origins, the final product is a rather focused and lush sounding album.

True Love Kills The Fairy Tale begins with a winking electronic beat and the sisters’ haunting, harmonious “oooh”s. As the album progresses, the production becomes ever more dense. “Day to Day,” for example, has a distinct shoegaze-y wall of sound quality to it and a slow tempo that lulls you into a haze. The title track features a lot of fuzz and some interesting instrumental work—acoustic guitar? banjo?—near its end, which is refreshing to hear midway through the electronically inclined album. “Holding You Back,” on the other hand, has a quintessentially pop sound to it, with ‘80s influences to boot. The lyrics, meanwhile, explore the tension and balance found in dichotomies (as in “Chemical Dizzy,” in which the girls sing “Opposites only exist with each other”) as well as more metaphysical themes (like the concept of “unrequited reality” from the first track, “Same Side”).

Though the album is pretty purely pop, it remains instrumentally grounded in Graveface’s mechanical blips. A straight-shot listen might make some of the tracks come off as repetitive, but The Casket Girls have a pretty specific sound which they do very well. Droning and entrancing, True Love Kills the Fairy Tale leaves you blissed out and bobbing your head along to the catchy riffs.

INTERVIEW: Casket Girls

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The Casket Girls seem to have come together by a serious stroke of luck—or magic. The Savannah, GA three-piece was formed when Ryan Graveface (of Graveface Records and quite a few other bands) happened upon sisters Elsa and Phaedra Green, singing and playing Autoharp under a tree in a park. Their collaboration since that fateful day has mainly involved Ryan creating electronic-shoegaze music for the girls to write lyrics and sing to, resulting in ethereal, catchy songs that quickly amassed a cult following. Their sophomore album, True Love Kills The Fairy Tale—conceived while the girls were in some sort of dream or drugged up state—sounds both enchanting and spooky, and listening to it all the way through feels somewhat like exploring a haunted castle. The record is due out Feb. 11th, and in the meantime we caught up with Phaedra and Ryan to talk a little about where they are and where they’re going. Read on, and keep an eye out for True Love Kills The Fairy Tale!

You guys say you’re all very connected/linked with each other as people, despite the serendipitous way in which you met and became a band. Can you describe this connection, and how it aids you creatively and collaboratively?

Phaedra Green: It feels as though we found each other when we reflect back on all the myriad of minutia decisions that were made to cross paths at that exact point in time. Therefore it begs the question, was it the first we met?

You’ve talked a lot about the story behind this new album, and how Elsa and Phaedra don’t remember much from the night they actually wrote the songs. We haven’t heard much about how things came about musically…what were some of Ryan’s inspirations in making this record?

Ryan Graveface: Heartbreak (ending an engagement), making my own absinthe, collecting Pogo’s original artwork etc…the record, musically, came from these things.

The album mentions a lot of things that go hand in hand (ashes and embers; stone and rock) as well as opposites (fire and water; light and dark). What attracted you to these themes?

Phaedra: We spend a lot of time thinking about not only the things that make us different but also the things that make us the same. It’s been a fairly prominent topic in our conversation, studies and also in our dreams.

How do you think you’re developing and evolving as a band, going from your first album to your second? What feels different?

Phaedra: We’re not sure what exactly feels different, but we do feel different. Being involved in this band has been a constant evolution.

Do you plan on staying in Savannah for the time being? Do you find all of Savannah’s Spanish Moss-covered Oak trees as inspiring as we do?

Phaedra: Yes, yes and YES!

If you could have one person, living or historical, listen to your album, who would it be?

Phaedra: Johann Sebastian Bach!

Who are some of your musical inspirations? Do you have anyone with whom you would absolutely love to collaborate on a project?

Phaedra: We are inspired by anything from ‘60s girl groups (Phil Spector), to experimental and modern pop. We are obsessed with Janelle Monae. (Janelle Monae, if you are reading this, please contact Ryan Graveface.)

So you asked fans to submit video footage for “Chemical Dizzy”’s music video…did you get some good stuff? You guys have done this sort of fan-involvement thing before; what about that is attractive to you? 

Ryan: I just get so bored with the usual roll-out of a record that I like to throw in a few interesting ideas here and there. We received a bunch of really cool submissions and our guy is currently trying to turn it all into a proper music video. I feel very blessed that people care about our music enough to take the time to do things like this. It’s radical.

You guys are heading out on tour soon…where are you most excited to go? Do you have a favorite city or venue? What are a few of your tour bus necessities?

Phaedra: New Orleans is our favorite place to visit. We can’t wait to go back there. Ryan drives us around in a van or a car and sometimes we have to sit with instruments on our laps, so necessities pretty much are just air and water and some food. If we luck out, we get our own hotel room and a bottle of Chandon sparkling rose.

If you could have any super power, music related or not, what would it be?

Phaedra: We would like to further delve deeper into the prospect of our psychic abilities.

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