Candy Coffins presents a sun-drenched slice of post-punk in ‘Seaside Girls’
If you are a fan of TRAITRS or even their predecessor THE CURE, today is your day because you are about to hear the latest greatest track from South Carolina-based post-punk band CANDY COFFINS and what can we say – they are all in the same wheelhouse of post-punk greatness. With a band name like that, you just had to know there was a goth or noir element to their music and it’s a look (or should I say sound) that they wear well.
‘Seaside Girls’ is the band’s new single, previewing their much-anticipated album ‘Once Do It With Feeling’, arriving two years after their ‘Somehow Misplaced’ EP. Featuring 10 tracks, vocalist/ guitarist/ songwriter Jame 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.”
About the new single specifically, he elucidates: “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.”
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. Taking these two singles together, Candy Coffins make for an enthralling and fascinating listen with their sonic imagery, emotional turbulence and new romantic underpinnings. With a wistful sound and vocal likeness to The Cure’s Robert Smith, their melancholy interchanges with adrenaline from song to song amidst picturesque soundscapes and heartfelt lyricism, creating a welcome window into their sonic world,
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, 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.
As of September 20, ‘Seaside Girls’ will be 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.
CREDITS
Jame Lathren – vocals, guitars
Tom Alewine : guitars
Alex Mabrey – bass
Jonathan Bradley – drums, percussion
Justin Purdy – keys
Additional instrumentation by John Furr
Additional vocals by Margaret Rose Champagne
All songs by Jame Lathren (BMI) © 2022
Produced & Engineered by John Furr at Pow Pow Sound (Columbia, SC)
Mixed by David Barbe at Chase Park Transduction (Athens, GA)
Mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B Mastering (Charlotte, NC)
Single cover artwork by Jame Lathren
Album cover artwork by Phoenix Lathren and and Tom Alewine
‘Everyday a Fresh Atrocity’ video created by Jame Lathren
Artist photo by Lauren Ellis
LIVE SHOWS
September 16 – Velo Fellow, Greenville, SC
October 1 – Schoolkids Records, Raleigh, NC
October 29 – In The Addition, Columbia, SC – album release show
Find Candy Coffins on the net
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | BandsInTown | Press contact
