With their hauntingly beautiful new single Death is but a Friend, the Franco-Norwegian duo CASILIAN has crafted an existential folktronica gem that will leave you profoundly moved.
Featuring brothers Lucas J. and Mikael B. Roussel, CASILIAN’s blend of organic folk and futuristic electronica creates a sonic landscape that feels comforting and unnerving.
Death is but a Friend grapples with the heavy themes of mortality and acceptance but does so with a sense of wisdom and even relief.
As the brothers explain, it’s a song “about acceptance and the relief that comes with it…that if we got through it all and made it – Death is but a Friend.”
With tender vocals and delicate acoustic guitar lines, the track has an undeniably melancholic undercurrent.
But it’s a melancholy that is more meditative than mournful. The twinkling piano keys at the end alongside soothing bird sounds round the song off beautifully.
The lyrics are the real star here. Death is but a Friend isn’t about morbid fascination; it’s about the liberating realisation that we can all get through tough times.
The song acknowledges the darkness but chooses to focus on the resilience that follows.
It’s a fresh perspective on a heavy topic, one that might just make you want to dance while contemplating the meaning of life
Fresh from performances at Vill Vill Vest in their ancestral home of Bergen and shows across the UK, CASILIAN is continuing to enchant audiences with their seamless ability to provoke deep introspection and unbridled celebration simultaneously.
Death is but a Friend is a tempting preview of the duo’s forthcoming work that promises to dive further into their unique brand of existential-folktronica. Death has never felt so alive.
CASILIAN – Death is but a Friend Lyrics
Verse:
Jump scared by a shadow
Better left alone
My plans for tomorrow
Have packed up and gone
And I fear the void I stared in
Is now chasing me
A voice calling in the dark
That can no longer be
Chorus:
‘Cause naked in the fire
I lost all I had
Flying so much higher
Than I ever have
Verse:
I recall begging for your hand
When my world came to end
And the kindness you gave my friend
In my heart remains
You said “a joy shared is twice the joy
And sadness only have”
Darling if it was my choice
I’d give you all my laughs
Chorus:
‘Cause naked in the fire
I lost all I had
Flying so much higher
Than I ever have
For all we know its just the start
But what a road it’s been
And I guess once we get that far
Then death is but a friend x3