Castle Black

Trapped Under All You Know (2017)

Julie River

 If you played me any of the songs off of Castle Black’s EP Trapped Under All You Know (with the exception of the second track, “Broken Bright Star”) in a bar and asked me what band I was listening to, I’d tell you with the utmost certainty “Oh, that’s Sleater-Kinney.” In terms of bands to bite from, you could choose few better, but it still doesn’t change the fact that copying a famous band’s style almost exclusively is no substitute for coming up with you own sound that allows you to stand out in a crowd. Their website likes to claim a few other girl group influences, like Hole or L7, but those influences are really nowhere to be found. The EP is played very competently with smooth production and well written lyrics, but without establishing their own sound that demands to be listened to, Castle Black remains largely forgettable.

And let’s take a second to talk about that album cover. I can’t tell if I’m looking at an extremely dark skinned black woman, or a woman with a lot of really thick, dark, black hair everywhere on her body like some sort of black wookie. It’s really hard to work out what the cover is supposed to be or what it means, but whatever decision you come to, it unfortunately leads you to the conclusion that it’s and album cover that’s inappropriate. That, combined with the uninspired—or, I guess you could say, singularly inspired—music makes Trapped Under All You Know into a very mediocre album from a band that needs to try again with some major tweaks to their sound.