Casual Crypt Returns With – Monculture – a 10 Song Collection Of Bedroom Recordings Out 9/10/21
Following his self-titled debut, Casual Crypt returns with Monoculture, a 10-track, genre-hopping effort played like a compilation of Vernon’s influences, and his first attempt at releasing his recorded music completely solo.
Monoculture is an intimate look into his creative process. Lo-fi defines the project with shades of new wave and indie-pop built on his easy-going drums and welcoming chord arrangements. Vernon’s vast influences and more expansive musical mindset are on full display with offerings of extended instrumental passages and significant stylistic shifts within the same track. He sings over acoustic and chorus-laden electric guitars, playing with the pitch knob on the tape machine to make the sunbaked cassette sound like the soundtrack to a hazy dream.
Describing Monoculture as a “leap-pad to get somewhere else musically,” Vernon adds “My next project or album is probably going to be completely instrumental or close to it.”
While largely aligned with the DIY indie mindset of groups like Guided By Voices, Domenique Dumont, and Cola Boy, some songs take his music in fascinating new directions. “Esoteric” carries a light bossa nova rhythmic sensibility. “Sea Lives” sounds like Style Council after their first taste of Afrobeat. “Newswave” has deep electronic drums antagonized by new wave keys, providing a fascinating musical dialogue at times contested, and at times symbiotic.