They are named after the lyrics "The fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles" and "Crystal Castles, the source of all power" both from the theme song for She-Ra's fortress. They are known for their melancholic lo-fi sound and their explosive live shows. Their debut album was included in NME's "Top 50 Albums of the Decade".
Initially the band was intended to be a solo project started by Ethan Kath in December 2003. Ethan later discovered Alice Glass singing in a noise-punk band, and thought he had found the "missing ingredient" to his music.
In 2004 Kath gave Alice 60 instrumental tracks and in April 2005 she recorded vocals over five instrumentals. The limited vinyl release of the band's first single Alice Practice sold out in only three days.
The track was a microphone test by Glass and she was not aware that the recording existed until London UK's Merok Records asked to release the track on vinyl, according to now ex-bandmate Kath. However, Glass declared over a decade later that this story was not true.
On the 18th March 2008 they released their debut album entitled Crystal Castles. This album reached #47 on UK Albums Chart, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, #13 on US Top Heatseekers, and #32 on US Independent Albums. Crystal Castles received great reviews and ranked #39 on NME Magazine "Top 50 Albums of the Decade". They issued four singles: Alice Practice (1 June 2006), Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH) (13 August 2007), Air War (17 December 2007), and Courtship Dating (31 March 2008).
Crystal Castles are known not only for their own efforts as a band, but also for commissioned remixes for number of groups, including Hunting For Witches by Bloc Party, and Atlantis to Interzone by friends and label mates, Klaxons.
In mid-2008, Crystal Castles were involved in two controversies related to artwork permissions and samples in their earliest unreleased songs. Crystal Castles used Trevor Brown's artwork (depicting singer Madonna with a black eye) without permission.
Furthermore, in one of Kath's earliest, unreleased demos, he incorporated a sample without permission. The track, "Insectica (CC vs Lo-Bat Version)", uses clips chopped out of a song by Lo-bat called "My Little Droid Needs a Hand", released under a Creative Commons license. Another track called "Love and Caring", samples the kick and snare from Covox's "Sunday".
In 23 April 2010 the duo released their second album Crystal Castles (II). This album reached #48 on UK Singles Chart, #8 on UK Dance Albums Chart, #24 on US Digital Albums, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, and #3 on US Top Heatseekers. Crystal Castles (II) has been met with mostly positive reviews from critics. To date, four singles were issued: Doe Deer, Celestica and Baptism, and a new version of the track Not In Love which featured Robert Smith of The Cure on vocals.
This became their biggest hit to date, charting in a great amount of countries including a #3 in Belgium (Flanders), a #31 in Denmark and various notable placements on official alternative music charts. "Not In Love", which is a cover of a Platinum Blonde song of the same name, was also featured in various television shows (including "Degrassi") and the popular football simulation videogame FIFA 12.
The band toured throughout 2010 in the US and abroad and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals and Glastonbury Festival in the UK and Big Day Out in Australia. In February 2011, the band will perform on the NME Awards Tour
The band's third album, (III) was released on November 21, 2012. The album contains the singles "Plague", "Wrath of God", and "Sad Eyes".
On October 8th 2014 it was announced on then lead singer Alice Glass' Twitter that she was leaving the band, and that the group would end. However, Crystal Castles' manager immediately reported that the band would continue, and on April 15th, 2015, Ethan Kath shared a new track titled Frail on SoundCloud, writing 'this is Edith on vocals', implying that fellow musician Edith Frances was Crystal Castles' new lead vocalist, which was in fact the case.
On 2 July 2015, another new song, Deicide, was released as a single. A new version of Deicide was later released on the album under the title Their Kindness is Charade.
In late November 2015, Edith Frances played her first show as the other half of Crystal Castles in South Africa.
In the last week of June 2016, the track Concrete was leaked on Korean website MNet. The track was later released as a single on July 6 with an accompanying video Video on the same day on YouTube.
On June 29, the band previewed a new track Femen with a teaser of the music Video showing birds caught and struggling in mist nets via Vimeo.
On July 11, the band announced the new record, Amnesty (I) along with its cover art and track list and also premiering Char as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1.
The single and pre-order for the album were made available a day later on July 12.
The fourth, and last pre-order single Fleece was made available on August 16 at the band's iTunes page.
Another single titled Sadist was released on August 18, followed by the official release of the album on August 19, 2016. Track Sadist was followed by Edith's message announced on CC official Facebook page.
On their official website CC announced that all band's proceeds from Amnesty (I) album will be donated to Amnesty International. New album Vinyl and CD includes bonus track Kept.
http://www.crystalcastles.com
Various sources have reported that, as of 2018, Crystal Castles remains in a hiatus with no signs of new material coming in the near future.
Child I Will Hurt You
Crystal Castles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Reduce them to strays
Clean their cuts and scrapes
Mercy we abstain
Hope you’re entertained
Snow covers the stain
Taught them with solace
They know a soft caress
To lower your defense
Hide all that you could
Done for the greater good
It’s later understood
Foray forever
The lyrics of "Child I Will Hurt You" by Crystal Castles describe a disturbing and abusive relationship between the singer and a child. The first two lines, "Keep them locked away/Reduce them to strays" suggest that the singer has control over the child's life and is forcing them to live in isolation as if they were an animal. "Clean their cuts and scrapes" can be interpreted as the singer taking care of the child physically, but it can also be seen as a way for the abuser to justify their actions and make it seem like they are doing the child a favor.
The next two lines, "Mercy we abstain/Hope you’re entertained" show the singer's lack of compassion or remorse for what they are doing to the child. The line "Snow covers the stain" may refer to the way the singer is covering up the abuse or it could be seen as a metaphor for innocence lost. The repeated phrase "Foray forever" at the end of each stanza suggests that the singer has no intention of stopping their abusive behavior.
The next stanza describes how the singer has trained the child to be submissive and vulnerable to their advances. "Taught them with solace/They know a soft caress/To lower your defense" suggests that the abuser has manipulated the child emotionally to make them more susceptible to their abuse. The final two lines, "Hide all that you could/Done for the greater good/It’s later understood" reveal the abuser's justification for their behavior. They see themselves as doing something for the "greater good" and believe that their actions will be understood or justified in the future.
Overall, "Child I Will Hurt You" is a disturbing song that shines a light on the dark side of human behavior. It is a cautionary tale about the dangers of power and control and the harm that can be done when people are allowed to act without empathy or compassion.
Line by Line Meaning
Keep them locked away
Restrict freedom of others
Reduce them to strays
Make them feel like outcasts
Clean their cuts and scrapes
Show small kindnesses to keep them under control
Mercy we abstain
We refuse to show compassion
Hope you’re entertained
We hope you're satisfied with the suffering we cause
Snow covers the stain
We try to cover up the damage we've done, but it's still there
Foray forever
We will continue our destructive ways indefinitely
Taught them with solace
We manipulate people to trust us and let their guard down
They know a soft caress
We use gentle actions to lure them into a false sense of security
To lower your defense
Our goal is to weaken your defenses and make you vulnerable
Hide all that you could
We cover up our wrongdoing and try to conceal our true intentions
Done for the greater good
We justify our cruel actions as necessary for some greater purpose
It’s later understood
People will eventually realize the truth about our actions
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ALICE GLASS, ETHAN KATH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
gbrs
Keep them locked away
Reduce them to strays
Clean their cuts and scrapes
Mercy we abstain
Hope you’re entertained
Snow covers the stain
Foray forever
Taught them with solace
They know a soft caress
To lower your defense
Hide all that you could
Done for the greater good
It’s later understood
Foray forever
gotacoolname
My first impression of the song in the context of the sound, title, and lyrics is that it's a lullaby. Musically, it sounds like a nursery song, something to put a baby to sleep. A parent is singing to their kid, "Child, I will hurt you." But not intentionally. The parent is so loving and protective that she will inadvertently hurt her child. "Keep them locked away," "Clean their cuts and scrapes," "They know a soft caress," "Done for the greater good." Parents shielding their children from the world, leaving them unprepared to face it on their own.
Julian Szecsödi
Beautiful Interpretation
92larsko
or the mere fact that putting someone to the world will inevitably hurt them
Spiritual Vibrations
Wow, you summed it up perfectly.
Legenden27
nope nope too deep for me
Brandon C
@Aiden St Clair had nothing to do with the comment.
shagadellic12
I cry at this song. Not because it's sad. It's just full of emotion.
u64qc8yxt syn
cringe
Владислава Смирнова
+
xanders
I be in my feels to this song omfg