The Casket Girls, 529, Atlanta, February 14, 2014

I reminded myself about last night's show last year yet still very nearly forgot about it, only noticing the listing on the Creative Loafing's Things To Do post yesterday afternoon.  I'm glad I made it, though, as it turned out to be one of the more interesting shows I'm likely to see this year.

Before the show even started, though, there was a Magnitude 4.1 earthquake centered near Edgefield, South Carolina at 10:23 pm.  Shaking was reportedly felt here in Atlanta, although I didn't notice and no one in 529 showed any reaction. This was the first night of the Graveface Roadshow tour, though, and it's appropriate that it kicked off with a literal earthquake, even if a minor, non-damaging one.

Opener Dreamend is the musical project of Graveface Records founder Ryan Graveface.  Graveface performs with his face concealed by a black-and-white-striped balaclava with a built-in microphone, possibly the first electric balaclava in rock music, and was backed by drummer Peter Seeba and by J Cep of The Stargazer Lillies on bass.  Together, they play loud shoegaze bordering on post-rock that sounds very little like the acoustic-based music in the video above.  By the second song, Graveface had broke the D string on his guitar but gamely carried on, noting after the first post-D-string song, "As it turns out, the D string isn't all that important after all."  Despite the technical mishap, it was a good set to start the night.      

Drummer Peter Seeba stayed on for the next band, The Stargazer Lillies, while J Cep switched from bass to a heavily processed guitar and K Field took over the bass and vocal roles.  I wouldn't go so far as to say Cep looks like actor Jason Schwartzman, but he does look like a character Schwartzman could easily play, while Field has the glam look of a Deheza sister (School of Seven Bells).

As their name implies, The Stargazer Lillies play a dreamier brand of shoegaze post-rock, with Cep creating wall-of-sound textures with his expansive pedal boards and loop effects, even bowing the guitar at times.  It was hard to hear Field's vocals at times over the loud guitar, but Cep's outstanding guitar showcase was really quite impressive in its own right.    

By 12:30, the two opening bands virtually merged to back headliners The Casket Girls.  Peter Seeba stayed on drums, pulling triple duty and playing the entire bill, while Ryan Graveface returned to the stage to play keyboards.  J Cep and K Fields of The Stargazer Lillies took turns on bass for those songs that had bass lines (on other songs, the bass parts were covered by the low end on Graveface's keys). 

Which brings us to The Casket Girls themselves.  Sisters Phaedra and Elsa Greene stayed in character all night, preserving their aura of mystery by wearing sunglasses and leather jackets all evening, even while mingling in the audience before their set.

On stage, they put on a terrifically entertaining performance, matching their beautiful and haunting melodies with at times hilarious choreographed girl-band dance moves. For I've Got A Secret, they put on elbow-length black gloves and covered each other faces like in their video for the song.  The video for Heartless captures their choreographed moves, as well as their odd and distinct sense of humor.

They opened their set with Same Side, probably my favorite of their songs, and played a 45-or-so-minute set.  Graveface's keyboards provided a gritty, edgy backdrop to their melodies, annihilating pop sentimentalities and moving the sound into its own spooky realm.  If you're a fan of bands like Azure Ray or Lucius, but want a little more David Lynchian, deadpan Twin Peaks humor in your songs and a little more bite to the sound, The Casket Girls might be the band for you.  They certainly work for me.