1001 Other Albums<p><strong>Self-Titled Summer | Casualties of Cool (2014, Canada)</strong></p><p>Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 787 on <a href="https://1001otheralbums.com/the-list/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The List</a>, submitted by unsafelyhotboots. Here’s a quick rundown:</p><ul><li><em>Point of origin(s)</em>: This is, at least thus far, a one-off project from Canadian/Vancouverite musicians Devin Townsend and Ché Aimee Dorval. Townsend is an incredibly prolific artist who typically works in the realm of metal, with s/t projects such as The Devin Townsend Band, Devin Townsend Project, his solo material, and his record label HevyDevy Records. The Devin Townsend Project in particular started as a series of albums meant to allow space for Townsend to figure out his identity as a musician, beginning with <em><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/1692627789" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ki</a></em> (2009), which featured Dorval as a guest vocalist on a few tracks. Initially, <em>Casualties of Cool</em> was slated to be the 6th album for the Devin Townsend Project (following the 2012 <em>Epicloud</em>) and Townsend’s 16th studio album overall. But, perhaps since the music on this album is so different from his previous work, Townsend later decided to make it a separate project, working again with Dorval then as a duo, plus Morgan Ågren on drums/percussion and various guest musicians (including a chamber choir).</li><li><em>Tasting notes</em>: Moody, ambient country rock, with vibes for days. According to Townsend himself, “It sounds like haunted Johnny Cash songs.” Also, sounds like (i.e., has the concept of) a traveller being lured to a sentient, fear-eating planet, the traveller finding solace in music on said fear-eating planet, and then liberation for the traveller and another captive of the fear-eating planet. Or something.</li><li><em>Standout track</em>: Any that feature Dorval’s gorgeous vocals. But also, as with any great concept album, the tracks bleed into and refer back to each other,[1] so you really need to listen to all of them – it’s an event.</li><li><em>Where are they now?</em>: Townsend has continued to make many records, primarily under his solo work. His most recent, <em><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/1761880363" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">PowerNerd</a></em> (2024), is his 22nd studio album. Dorval has continued to work with Townsend and on her own solo material, with the 2023 <em><a href="https://cheaimeedorval.bandcamp.com/album/the-crowned" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Crowned</a></em> being her most recent solo studio album.</li><li><em>Websites</em>: <a href="http://casualtiesofcool.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Band website</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_Cool" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>; <a href="https://hevydevy.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Devin Townsend’s website</a>, <a href="https://www.cheaimeedorval.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ché Aimee Dorval’s website</a>, <a href="https://devintownsend.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Devin Townsend’s Bandcamp</a>, <a href="https://cheaimeedorval.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Ché Aimee Dorval’s Bandcamp</a></li></ul><p>Happy listening!</p><ul><li><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/854531712" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songlink: Casualties of Cool – <em>Casualties of Cool</em></a></li><li><a href="https://www.discogs.com/master/687412-Casualties-Of-Cool-Casualties-Of-Cool" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Discogs: Casualties of Cool – <em>Casualties of Cool</em></a></li></ul><ol><li>Okay, so, <em>after</em> writing this, I realized I had listened to a version that had an extra disc with an additional hour of material. It wasn’t labelled as deluxe or anything and I listened to the whole 2h 18m without knowing where the break between discs was. So, I’m not sure how much of the referring back I heard was because maybe those extra tracks were reworked/early versions of what ended up on disc 1, etc. ↩︎</li></ol><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/ambient/" target="_blank">#ambient</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/casualties-of-cool/" target="_blank">#CasualtiesOfCool</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/chamber-rock/" target="_blank">#chamberRock</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/che-aimee-dorval/" target="_blank">#ChéAimeeDorval</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/concept-album/" target="_blank">#conceptAlbum</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/country-rock/" target="_blank">#countryRock</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/devin-townsend/" target="_blank">#DevinTownsend</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/folk/" target="_blank">#folk</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/music/" target="_blank">#music</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/music-discovery/" target="_blank">#musicDiscovery</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/selftitled/" target="_blank">#selftitled</a></p>