Casualties of Cool - Casualties of Cool

                     
  Haunting, catchy, spacey and dark, Casualties of Cool is an intriguing blend of richly textured traditional bluegrass and out-there electronica

While its tempting to make overblown comparisons to past legends when discussing a promising release from a young group, its usually in everyone's best interest if us critics practice some restraint to avoid sending our collective hopes on a perpetual roller coaster ride. So while I don't think Devin Townsend is the Neil Young of our modern age, Casualties of Cool is just another indication of his wide musical interests (and abilities).

I'm not the first to draw a line connecting the two - while Young has had a couple decades' lead time, Townsend has released a staggeringly large amount of music in the years he has been active, including several unconventional releases that mirror Young's experimental period in the 80s. The success of those experiments is another topic, but its hard to think of another singular artist who has pursued his own musical vision with such earnest effort (and a similarly anti-industry stance).

And so here we have his latest effort, Casualties of Cool, a (trust me, I can't believe I'm writing this either) progressive bluegrass album created with help from a cadre of guest musicians - most prominently the vocal work of  Ché Dorval, who previously assisted Townsend on 2009's Ki and is featured much more prominently here (almost more than Townsend, actually).

Casualties of Cool is ostensibly a concept album - I won't "spoil" anything for you story-wise, but I wish you luck in following it, as even with the lyric sheet I wasn't sure where the actual story was. It certainly isn't Operation Mindcrime, but just the songs taken at face value are plenty strong enough. Townsend and his crew have crafted an ingenious blend of catchy foot-stompers (Daddy, The Code), spacey ballads (Flight, The Field), and strange electro-prog blends of the two (Deathscope, Mountaintop). The atmosphere is somber, and the music exudes a sense of comfort and maturity that imbues Townsend's best work, and trades in the juvenile zaniness of Ziltoid or Deconstruction for a more restrained sound with a more trance-like sound, reminiscent at times of The KLF (Deathscope) and Above and Beyond at moments (Moon).Ché Dorval's haunting and ethereal vocals are the star of the show here, giving off a breathy, noir-ish aura that is as alluring as it is chilly, with a Julee Cruise-like sense of distance. The atmospheric use of samples, audio effects, and additional instruments (including some excellent saxophone work) is just icing on the very rich cake that is Casualties of Cool. A brilliantly unassuming passion project of this quality and length is unfortunately rare, and Casualties of Cool is well worth the time invested.