[The] Caseworker

[The] Caseworker“[The] Caseworker extract darkness from inside whispery, ambient pop… completely enraptured and awesomely dazed”Rolling Stone

With each successive release, garage-dreampop trio [The] Caseworker deliver their own timeless sonic magic. Their pivotal 2011 album Letters From The Coast has the feel of a shoegazing Velvet Underground reared by the Flying Nun label – the perfect balance of drone and chime. The follow up release, Voices Out There, saw the band rein in their lo-fi guitar-pop impulses and explore a more expansive, minimal sound, akin to Conor and Eimer Devlin’s previous band Half Film. [The] Caseworker create an enigmatic intimacy and atmosphere, which they wrap around immaculately crafted pop songs like smoke. Perfectly intoxicating.

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Discography

 
 

Voices Out There

 

October 2013

 

Voices Out There sees [The] Caseworker rein in the lo-fi guitar-pop impulses of acclaimed third album Letters From The Coast to explore a more expansive, minimal sound, akin to Conor and Eimer Devlin’s previous band Half Film. The band maintain their enigmatic intimacy and atmosphere, while suggesting haunting vistas just beyond the horizons of these succinct, sad songs. The lyrical themes explored on the album are a continuation of their previous preoccupations – reflection, rootlessness, memory – while also being coloured by Conor Devlin’s experience of recovering from a serious car accident in 2012. First single ‘Dependence Day’ marries [The] Caseworker’s trademark restraint with a strident, slowburning melodic sensibility, while the title track vividly surveys the morphine hallucinations Conor experienced while confined to a hospital bed in Switzerland. The album’s chiming guitars, gently bobbing rhythm section and warm yet dislocated vocals from both Conor and Eimer Devlin generate a sense of intimacy and fragility that is deeply affecting. What’s most apparent on these songs is of a band in absolute control of their craft, able to derive maximum emotional heft from minimal ingredients.

 
 

Letters From The Coast

 


September 2011

 

On their third album Letters From The Coast, garage-dreampop trio [The] Caseworker exude the feel of a shoegazing Velvet Underground reared by the Flying Nun label – the perfect balance of drone and chime. The band creates an enigmatic intimacy and atmosphere, which they wrap around immaculately crafted pop songs like smoke. Perfectly intoxicating. With opening track and lead single ‘National Runner’, [The] Caseworker have an instant pop classic on their hands. The song’s consummate mix of hypnotic guitars and driving rhythm section are perfectly balanced with Conor Devlin’s starry-eyed vocal. Elsewhere, bassist Eimer Devlin assumes lead vocal duties for ‘The Slow Track’ and ‘Sea Years’, both reminiscent of prime Yo La Tengo, while standout ‘Boats’ carries the listener away on its buoyant yet melancholic waves of arpeggios and feedback. The album exudes a wonderful sense of timelessness and romanticism – these are songs to attach memories to.

Biography

[The] Caseworker was initially formed by Conor Devlin (vocals, guitar) and Eimer Devlin (vocals, bass) as a San Francisco-based recording project back in 2003. They released their first album These Weeks Should Be Remembered in late 2003. Rave reviews prompted the band to try some live shows, with Will Waghorn joining on drums, and extra guitar provided by Monte Vallier (Swell, Jet Black Crayon). Two more albums followed over the next three years: East of Sunset, a soundtrack album of Tom Waits covers, and their second album of original songs, When I Was A Young King, in 2006.

Between 2007 and 2009 [The] Caseworker went on accidental hiatus as the band members moved around the world. They’re now based respectively in Lausanne, Switzerland, Petaluma, USA, and Clifton-upon-Teme, England. Their new album, Letters From The Coast (Hidden Shoal, 2011), was recorded by Monte Vallier at San Francisco’s Ruminator Audio Studios (Young Prisms, Weekend, Tommy Guerrero).

 

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Licensing

[The] Caseworker’s music is  available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.