Post-punk new romantics Candy Coffins present ‘Seaside Girls’, along with a video companion, paying tribute to the playful abandon of youth with a healthy dose of indie rock. This is the second taste of the band’s new album ‘Once Do It With Feeling’, a loaded 10-track collection that arrives two years after their ‘Somehow Misplaced’ EP.
“When the pandemic hit, I decided I would not write a dark song as the first one written during the period. It seemed too easy given the times. It took me three months, but we got ‘Seaside Girls’ from the effort, which is an upbeat sun-drenched rocker on the new album, ‘Once Do It With Feeling’. It’s all the rage,” says frontman-songwriter Jame Lathren.
Earlier, the band released ‘Every Day A Fresh Atrocity’ and an accompanying video created by Jame Lathren, exploring the dark corners and haunting suffocation of a broken relationship.
This album showcases mature strides in songwriting, the band relating the themes addressed both confidently and cohesively. Emotionally and sonically saturated, their music boasts Cure-esque textures and melody, as well as the thematic elements and visceral delivery of The Afghan Whigs.
Lathren notes, “The full album chronicles a relationship from the onset of the first crack to its complete crumbling dissolution. All the feelings and emotions of tumult are captured here, from both persons’ perspectives.”
Vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Jame Lathren, a small-town boy who admired artists who were not on popular radio, formed Candy Coffins in 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. A cultural outcast, his resilience, sensitivity and hyper-awareness of his emotional state would ultimately permeate his own music, getting right to the heart of the emotions surrounding the human condition.
After disbanding his previous post-punk band Crown The Cake, he formed Candy Coffins with hometown guitar legend Tom Alewine (Bachelors of Art), followed by seasoned music scene veterans Alex Mabrey on bass and Justin Purdy on keys, and former Iron & Wine touring drummer Jonathan Bradley. Their dynamic and textured approach has contributed to the band’s trademark lush sound, channeling and bolstering Lathren’s emotive songwriting and delivery.
With tasteful nods to Joy Division, The Cure, The Psychedelic Furs, The Afghan Whigs and The Cult, as well as contemporaries like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spiritualized, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Interpol, Candy Coffins’ sound is dark and emotionally restless, but with elements of hope and elation. Defiantly unique, their sound is a welcome respite from musical mediocrity.
‘Seaside Girls’ is out now, available everywhere digitally, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, where ‘Every Day A Fresh Atrocity’ can also be found. The ‘Once Do It With Feeling’ LP will be released on October 21 and can be ordered at https://candycoffins.bandcamp.com
