Crystal Stilts
January 2011
Stateside was fortunate enough to catch Brooklyn's Crystal Stilts twice when they were just coning up-once on a stacked garage rock bill at Chicago's Subterranean in 2008 and again the following year at SXSW in Austin, Texas-and is happy to announce that the band has a new record on the way!
The album in question, "In Love with Oblivion", will be released in the US on 12 April (on the Oakland, California label Slumberland) and will be available on 11 April in the UK (on Fortuna Pop). This is a follow-up to their debut, Alight Of Night, which drew numerous comparisons to the Factory Records bands of the late-70s (especially Joy Division and A Certain Ratio).
An advance listen to two new tracks finds Crystal Stilts expanding their sonic horizons considerably. First single "Shake the Shackles" buries Brad Hargett's Ian Curtis-inspired monotone in a neo-psych arrangement akin to early Echo & the Bunnymen. B-side *"Magnetic Moon" may not be quite as layered-simple percussion out front recalls the minimalist backbeat of The Velvet Underground and The Jesus & Mary Chain-but Hargett shows a greater vocal range that approximates Ian McCulloch's nicotine-stained croon.
In Love with Oblivion (complete track listing):
Sycamore Tree
Through the Floor
Silver Sun
Alien Rivers
Half a Moon
Flying Into the Sun
Shake the Shackles
Precarious Stair
Invisible City
Blood Barons
Prometheus At Large
*Available on the "Shake the Shackles" single
UK audiences can catch Crystal Stilts in March, with shows scheduled in Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham and London.
