The album opens with “Femen”, a number whose greatest influence is simultaneously Clams Casino and the Soundcloud aesthetic that producers have been cultivating this decade. On Amnesty (I), however, Kath’s production often veers towards a calming ambience even when new vocalist Edith Frances unleashes a haunting performance. They could be characterized as synthpop, sure, but so could Phoenix, and it’s difficult to see where the overlap between those two bands lies.
Glass especially was known for her willingness to overlook injury or danger in favor of putting on a truly visceral experience.
With a new record, Amnesty (I) announced, the question was obvious: How pronounced was Glass’ impact on the band? As the album proves, she played a massive role in the first iteration of the Crystal Castles aesthetic.Ī core component of the Kath/Glass Crystal Castles lineup was that the abrasiveness of their best songs translated into equally raucous live shows. Producer Ethan Kath threw shade at Glass on Soundcloud reading, in part, “it should be rewarding for her considering she didn’t appear on Crystal Castles’ best known songs.” Understandably, Glass retaliated on Twitter, defending her contributions to the band ranging from the lyrics to vocal melodies and the band’s overall aesthetic. But in April 2015, when a new Crystal Castles song was released, “Frail”. Months went by and it seemed that that was that, the unfortunate end to an innovative pairing. In October 2014, singer Alice Glass announced that she was leaving the band for “professional and personal” reasons, marking the end of one of the most exciting duos the late 2000s and early 2010s had produced. For 2012's more streamlined III, the duo decamped to Warsaw, where they recorded direct to tape, eschewing any computer-assisted recording.As break-ups go, Crystal Castles’ was quick but with a slow-burning aftermath. The duo returned in 2010 with another self-titled album when it leaked onto the Internet in late April of that year, the band released it digitally soon after, with a physical release following that May. Tours with the Presets and Metric in 2007 set the stage for the release of Crystal Castles' self-titled debut album, which Last Gang released early in 2008. Kath and Glass worked on their own songs and also honed their remixing skills, tweaking songs for Klaxons as well as GoodBooks, Uffie, Health, and Bloc Party. "Alice Practice" was released as a limited-edition 7" in summer 2006 on Merok Records, also home to Klaxons its 500-copy run sold out in three days. One of the songs the pair recorded, "Alice Practice," was something of an accident: it was intended to be a demo of Glass testing out a microphone, but its presence on MySpace piqued record labels' interest. When Kath collaborated with singer Alice Glass on some songs in spring 2005, Crystal Castles' lineup was complete.
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Kath got the moniker from the name of She-Ra's dwelling in the He-Man and Masters of the Universe cartoon series it's also the name of a 1983 Atari video game, which is oddly appropriate, considering that one component of the band's distinctive sound comes from a keyboard modified with an Atari 5200 sound chip. Fusing low-res electronic noise and pop hooks so effortlessly that it can seem accidental, Crystal Castles began as producer/multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath's solo project in late 2003.
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