(from Hard of Hearing mag)
'It Doesn’t Get Any Easier’ is the enchanting debut single from Cardiff 5-piece Casual Smart. The group’s music is earnestly delicate, balancing bedroom practicality with ambition on a grander scale. The band only formed in June 2023, but have already amassed a strong reputation, selling out their debut headline show at The Moon in Cardiff in January and this month making it to the Green Man Rising longlist. Reportedly, the line “It doesn’t get any easier” was taken from the response given by Tapir! when asked for band advice in conversation at last year’s Sŵn Festival.
Musically, one feels the influence of Black Country, New Road in the candour of the lyrics and the gently epic arrangement, especially Emily Beal’s rolling, cymbal-driven drum part. With swells of sax and guitar, there is also a redolence of the Belle and Sebastian model for bedroom symphony, more recently taken up by the likes of Tapir!
Laid over this, duetted lyrics from Tom Thomas and Peter Martin guide the focus of the song with a magic recently felt on the similarly charming ‘Like Dancers Do,’ which Adam Hopper and the Wimps put out last month. Duets are in for the summer! Casual Smart bring wonderful imagination to the form: After shifting between perspectives either side of a break-up in the verse, and then interestingly layering both verses on top of each other, the singers join for the gently epic title hook, which wrings out all of its longing.
(from Hard of Hearing mag)
'It Doesn’t Get Any Easier’ is the enchanting debut single from Cardiff 5-piece Casual Smart. The group’s music is earnestly delicate, balancing bedroom practicality with ambition on a grander scale. The band only formed in June 2023, but have already amassed a strong reputation, selling out their debut headline show at The Moon in Cardiff in January and this month making it to the Green Man Rising longlist. Reportedly, the line “It doesn’t get any easier” was taken from the response given by Tapir! when asked for band advice in conversation at last year’s Sŵn Festival.
Musically, one feels the influence of Black Country, New Road in the candour of the lyrics and the gently epic arrangement, especially Emily Beal’s rolling, cymbal-driven drum part. With swells of sax and guitar, there is also a redolence of the Belle and Sebastian model for bedroom symphony, more recently taken up by the likes of Tapir!
Laid over this, duetted lyrics from Tom Thomas and Peter Martin guide the focus of the song with a magic recently felt on the similarly charming ‘Like Dancers Do,’ which Adam Hopper and the Wimps put out last month. Duets are in for the summer! Casual Smart bring wonderful imagination to the form: After shifting between perspectives either side of a break-up in the verse, and then interestingly layering both verses on top of each other, the singers join for the gently epic title hook, which wrings out all of its longing.
