[The] Caseworker 'Letters From The Coast' – DOA

Excerpt: “They aren’t exactly mysterious, [The] Caseworker, they just spread themselves around a lot. With band members variously inhabiting San Francisco, Switzerland and rural England, they seem less of an actual band and more of an association bound only by their musicality….  What it is, is a mellow, blissed out sequence of West Coast guitar pop, one that references Green On Red and Teenage Fanclub as much as it does the more abrasive Sonic Youth and monochromatic Velvet Underground whom [The] Caseworker acknowledge as influences. Alex Chilton casts his lengthy shadow over the songs here too, and there are inflections in the songwriting that reveal Post Punk influences such as Wire and Television Personalities. After all this, while you might think [The] Caseworker haven’t left any room for their own songwriting, they are significantly more than the sum of their influences and Letters From The Coast is a sun drenched dream haze of verging upon euphoric blissed out jangle pop…. Without leaning too heavily on foot pedals and production, and utilising some highly defined instrumental dynamics, Letters From The Coast has as much resonance and melodic energy as any of the bands and musicians whose work [The] Caseworker draw their influence from, and it succeeds fully as a complete album…. Anyone whose album colllection is incomplete without Ocean Rain, Grand Prix and Park Life will find an equally prominent space in it for this twelve track masterpiece.

Delusions Of Adequacy