Godcaster returns with a demonic new single, “Serpentine Carcass Crux Birth”

The experimental pop five-piece Godcaster was easily one of the best finds we took away from this winter’s guest DJ set on WXPN by Reflective Surface Mag editor Jason Friedman.

Between spastic guitar blasts and askew rhythms, the band — Judson Kolk on vocals and guitar, Bruce Ebersole on bass, David Mcfaul on keys, Von Lee on vocals and percussion, and Sam Pickard on drums — is a wild and wiry bunch. While its previous one-off singles fused the arty funk of early Talking Heads with the relentless psychedelic energy of Guerilla Toss, the band’s latest pushes beyond those far-flung boundaries and into an even more unorthodox aesthetic.

Released last week via Philly label Ramp Local , “Serpentine Carcass Crux Birth” is tumultuous and abrasive; its lyrics mix bleak mythology and Old Testament doom, unraveling a vignette of demonic entities and avenging angels come to wreak havoc on the planet. For these uncertain, dystopian times, it’s somewhat apropos, but doesn’t overstay its welcome either, clocking in at the very punk run time of a minute 56.

Those who caught Of Montreal’s pre-pandemic concert at Union Transfer got to see Godcaster in totally unhinged form opening the show — their own pageantry is a fine compliment for Kevin Barnes and co. — and though nobody really knows when we’ll get to experience that again (Godcaster, or live shows), “Serpentine Carcass Crux Birth” can take us part of the way there from the comfort of our own self-quarantine. Listen below.