Crystal Castles return with “Frail”
Crystal Castles isn’t dead. Last year, vocalist Alice Glass left the group, and suggested that she’d be going solo from here on out. But Ethan Kath is keeping the Crystal Castles name alive, and has just released a new track, titled “Frail.” Listen to it below.
Kath released a statement about the song that indicates there’s some unresolved acrimony between himself and Glass:
i wish my former vocalist the best of luck in her future endeavors. i think it can be empowering for her to be in charge of her own project. it should be rewarding for her considering she didn’t appear on Crystal Castles’ best known songs. (she’s not on Untrust Us. Not In Love, Vanished, Crimewave, Vietnam, Magic Spells, Knights, Air War, Leni, Lovers Who Uncover, Violent Youth, Reckless, Year of Silence, Intimate, 1991, Good Time, Violent Dreams etc.). people often gave her credit for my lyrics and that was fine, i didn’t care.
Can’t help but notice he’s conveniently leaving out “Wrath of God,” “Plague,” “Suffocation,” “Baptism” and “Celestica” — to name a few — as Crystal Castles’ “best known songs.” Anyhow, Kath hasn’t announced a follow-up to 2012’s III just yet, but it looks like Crystal Castles continues, at least, in some form or another.
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.