Pitchfork

There's something paradoxically comforting about Crystal Castles' spooky electro skree. The lo-fi blips and bleeps of tracks like "Courtship Dating" are, after all, the sounds of an entire generation's video-game innocence, no matter the neighing screams or gothy moodiness that envelop them here. For all the Knife-like dehumanizing vocal effects producer/multi-instrumentalist Ethan Fawn uses to render Alice Glass's shrill, affectless vocals occasionally incomprehensible, the Toronto duo are generous with melodic hooks on this one. And what lyrics are discernible suggest Glass is singing a tale as old as time: "How do I feel for thee?" Song as old as rhyme. Beauty and the "Altered Beast".

Directed by Marc Pannozzo, the video for "Courtship Dating" wisely focuses on Crystal Castles' dual personalities, in all senses of that phrase. The scene is shrouded in darkness, with strobe-like effects coming up whenever we see Fawn. But the focus is Glass, toying with her hoodie and singing from the night into the flashing light. It's both bleakly atmospheric and, since there's little to see here other than two people, approachably, if a bit disturbingly, human. Heard Crystal Castles playing in a record store halfway across the world last week, and all that death- and savagery-ridden 8-bit electro-slash suddenly felt like home.

[from Crystal Castles; out now on Last Gang]