The awe inspiring “Lightning Starts a Fire & Rain Puts it Out” is Suncastle’s thirteenth release on Triplicate Records since its inception in 2018, more than any other artist on our roster. From laid back lo-fi to energetic, melodic electronica, what we have here is an expertly crafted listening experience. All killer, no filler

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INTERVIEW
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Michael Southard (Triplicate Records): How would you compare “Lightning Starts a Fire & Rain Puts it Out” to your first album on Triplicate Records “Original Son”?

George Ernst (Suncastle): Original Son was a concept album about going on a hallucinogenic journey up a mountain, there’s more of a story being told through the music and the titles and the atmosphere, whereas Lighting is, like Anthem of Plenty, much more loose concept-wise. This is mostly due to it being recorded sporadically over about a year, then pieced together from about 35 tunes. Original Son is the sound of me getting a new iPad with a far more competent version of GarageBand and just going nuts experimenting.

MS: What was the most challenging part of making this album?

GE: Figuring out which tunes to cull, thankfully I had you to help with some last minute decisions. I’m very bad at that part, but I think ultimately it’s a strong collection that flows really well.

MS: You seem to do a lot of traveling. What is your favorite place to visit and why?

GE: Los Angeles because my partner lives there, plus it’s full of places I recognize from TV, both famous and mundane. We were watching the third season of Twin Peaks and my partner got really excited when they noticed a scene was shot in a grocery store they shop at regularly. No one famous lives in my hometown you see. Oh except the guy who played Tinky Winky from Teletubbies.

MS: Do you have any interesting anecdotes about lightning?

GE: No but I can tell you where the title came from. One of my favorite media critics is a guy called YourMovieSucksDotOrg (presumably not what his mother calls him), who made an unreasonably long, but reasonably articulated video essay about people who claim Disney’s The Lion King (1994) Ripped off Osamu Tezuka’s Kimba the White Lion franchise. One of the claims made is that in both properties lighting starts a fire (on the savanna with no humans, what else would?), and rain puts it out (on the savanna with no humans, what else would?). In sheer indignation of the idea that such a similarity constitutes plagiarism, he ranted for a very long time, using the phrase ‘Lightning Starts a Fire & Rain Puts it Out’ a hell of a lot, and it gradually just sunk in. It sounds like it has depth and meaning, but it’s more a testament to he nerdy stuff I watch on YouTube. Oh sorry you said ‘interesting’…

MS: Would you rather age in reverse like Benjamin Button or experience the same day over and over like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day?

GE: Experience the same day over and over I guess. Bill Murray is essentially a god by the end of that film.

MS: What's next for Suncastle?

GE: As I write this I’m finishing up a mini self-released album called ‘Light Antlerwork’, featuring artwork by my friend Elizabeth. It’s titled that way so that it shows up next to Lightning on discographies, and is mostly made up from the stuff that didn’t make sense on Lightning, but I’ve ended up giving it a lot of polish and I’m really excited for it to come out! After that, I’m making an exclusive record for my partner for their birthday… after that.. onto LP 15 I suppose!

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REVIEW
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Over a year has passed since Suncastle's last album Anthem of Plenty, giving his loyal audience a chance to ruminate on his vast and expanding catalog. We are more than excited to bring you “Lightning Starts a Fire & Rain Puts it Out”. This is Suncastle’s thirteenth release on Triplicate Records since its inception in 2018, more than any other artist on our roster. From laid back lo-fi to energetic, melodic electronica, what we have here is an expertly crafted listening experience. All killer, no filler. Similar to his last release Anthem of Plenty, Lightning is a carefully curated collection of a several month's worth of material presented in album format.

We kick things off with “Their Way of Life is Coming to an End”, an upbeat lo-fi groove full of space and beauty, complete with a smooth & saturated synth bass, keys, and even shakers. And in the signature Suncastle style, we're led straight into “I Truly Have Not Learned a Thing” with the new addition of guitar to the sonic pallette. We continue on into “Furred Serpent” that has a bit of a nostalgic and melancholy vibe, with ascending arpeggios, woozy keys, and spot-on counterpoint. Heating things up a bit we move on to “Toasty” with a glitchy, noisy and asymmetric, almost funk feel that you can't help but nod your head to.

“Ice Petals” cools things down a bit, moving back into the lo-fi vibes, with a mid-track build up to raise energy levels and keep things moving. Transitioning right into “Leucrotta” with beautiful descending arpeggios and sweet sounding melodies, and picking up and elaborating on the same theme in “Gawerk”. Hand drum patterns reminiscent of Bossa Nova in “Bolognaise” come in to greet us along with some quirky melodies, only to be replaced by heavily bitcrushed percussion in “Metal Magi”. At this point we're more than half way through the album and I'm just struck by how amazingly well put together this.

“Pegasus” has more of the signature lo-fi Suncastle sound that you know and love, and happens to be the longest track on the album coming in at just under five minutes. The majority of the rest of the tracks on this album average under three minutes. “S'Mores” changes direction a bit with the musical equivalent to a dancing campfire over driving drums. “1701 Heat” brings in that nostalgic feel along with some playful melodies, while “Mud” has a traditional pop-influenced build up to move things forward.

“Caribou” is shrouded in mystery and intrigue, with similar vibes to earlier tracks like “Furred Serpent” as Suncastle starts to bring us back home and wind things down. “All Carved” is dense and immersive, and serves as a great lead in to the closer “At Luna Park”, a triumphant ending to an amazing album. And for those of you keeping track, “At Luna Park” is a complete rework of an older Suncastle track from the out of print album “Moon Jams”. All in all, “Lightning Starts a Fire & Rain Puts it Out” is packed with so many different textures and flavors going on that you might not think would work together but they absolutely do, to a point that I barely noticed when the songs change and I'm left looking for the repeat button.