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Over the course of 20 years and 4 full lengths, 4 EPs and countless 7″ singles, Kansas City's The Casket Lottery has flirted with fidgety math rock, atmospheric explorations and anthemic singalongs, all while showcasing a masterful ability to balance world-weary heavy hearts with bombastic choruses that explode into stadium-sized fireworks displays. While the band has taken a few hiatuses over the past decade (with members contributing to Coalesce, Appleseed Cast, Able Baker Fox, Jackie Carol and Nathan Ellis' solo work), every return to action finds them recharged and refocused, eagerly annexing new musical territories while still retaining that ragged, restless fire that sparked the group decades prior.
In the spring of 2018 The Casket Lottery will be playing shows to help celebrate the re-release of their long out-of-print first 3 LPs - Choose Bronze (1999), Moving Mountains (2000), and Survival Is For Cowards (2002) - on Boston label Run For Cover Records. "We are excited to finally have these records back on vinyl..." the band proclaims. Available for the first time on vinyl in over ten years, this colored LP reissue (plus accompanying download) of The Casket Lottery's third album Survival Is For Cowards features an upgraded matte laminate finish, as well as a beautiful spot gloss insert and jacket.
Survival Is For Cowards takes the lessons learned and the paths that defined its predecessors to new heights of creative fervor and emotional impact. One of The Casket Lottery's greatest attributes is their incorporation of flailing dynamics and serene passages, which constantly contrasts between sonorous moments of contemplation and aggressive eruptions. "Code Red," "What I Built Last Night" and "Getting By" explore a main groove, beholden to a central musical thread, yet are laden with wavering guitar leads that flutter in the ether and exquisite arrangements that crash against the discourse. "Searchlights" is a plaintive, rolling, endeavor, moody yet always stirring while "The Bridge," "Since You" and "Leaving Town" utilize keyboards in a spacious, atmospheric style not previously attempted.