After however many consecutive days of blast beats and feedback, something slow and open sounds less like a stylistic choice and more like oxygen. Waterdeer‘s debut double A-side single “Goddamn//Cassandra” lands that way — spacious, unhurried, carrying the kind of weight that settles in rather than hits.
The London six-piece recorded both tracks with Philippe Khalilian at Church of Noise Studio last August, and the results land squarely in the tradition of the early Too Pure roster — think Movietone, Mazzy Star, The For Carnation.
Ethereal melodies over downtempo rhythms, singer Francesca Di Berardino’s vocals hovering somewhere between a confession and a myth. Que Suerte Records put it out on digital and tape.
Both songs were written from a place Francesca describes as “an alternate reality, a parallel world inhabited by archetypes and marked by curses and prophecies rather than time as we experience it on this side.” She grew up with Greek mythology and it shows — not as affectation but as genuine structural thinking. “Goddamn” draws on Orpheus and Eurydice, that specific despair of being close enough to touch something and still losing it. I hope it’s you / ’cause it’s all I want — and then, inevitably, we’ll say goddamn. The closing repetition earns it.
“Cassandra” collapses two myths into one: the seer whose prophecies were never believed bleeds into Echo, the nymph condemned to repeat only others’ words, who wastes away loving Narcissus as he stares at himself. Words fail me, words play me, words blame me, words betray me. The band describes it as “being doomed to see but to not be heard,” and the lyric the day you’re gone will be the day I’m free makes that feel less resigned than it looks on paper.
Wyświetl ten post na Instagramie
Taken together, the two tracks function as a diptych — “Goddamn” about regret for something that happened, “Cassandra” about regret for a missed opportunity, both circling what Francesca calls “the inability of coming together, existing at cross purposes and not being of the same world.” Her words, and a precise summary.
The release also includes a dub remix of “Goddamn” from Wayne Adams — one half of Petbrick, also known from Big Lad, and the engineer behind records by Shooting Daggers, John, and USA Nails at his Bear Bites Horse studio. An interesting choice of collaborator for something this lush, but it works as counterweight.
The band is a cross-section of the UK underground and beyond: alongside Francesca, the lineup includes drummer Vicki Butler (formerly of Ghum), guitarist Ale Incorvaia (currently in Ritual Error), bassist Ed White, and guitarists Steve Willey and Patrizio Tamborriello. They’ve been playing London shows for Bad Vibrations, Get in Her Ears, Scream/Shout and Lunch Money — Paper Dress Vintage next. Artwork is by Andy Hemming.
Stream “Goddamn//Cassandra” via Bandcamp, available now through Que Suerte Records.
🔔 IDIOTEQ is ad-free, independent, and runs on one person’s time. If you want it to stay that way: DONATE via PayPal 𝗈𝗋 SUPPORT via Patreon.
Stay connected via Newsletter · Instagram · Facebook · X (Twitter) · Threads · Bluesky · Messenger · WhatsApp.
