In 2014, singer Alice Glass announced her departure from Crystal Castles. “My art and my self-expression in any form has always been an attempt towards sincerity, honesty, and empathy for others. For a multitude of reasons both professional and personal I no longer feel that this is possible within Crystal Castles,” she wrote on Facebook. The band released a new track, “Frail,” in April featuring new vocalist Edith Frances, followed by the new song, “Deicide,” in July. The newly formed group plays live at two festivals in South Africa this weekend, with an appearance at SoundsWild in Johannesburg last night. “Edith Frances 1st show 1st time on stage, let’s show her luv xoxo,” the band updated on Facebook with the above photo.
Earlier this year, Ethan Kath (Crystal Castles songwriter/producer) made statements suggesting that Glass did not work on the group’s biggest songs. Glass fired back: “For the record, I wrote almost all of the lyrics in my former band and the vast majority of the vocal melodies. I was a founding member of crystal castles and shaped the sound and aesthetic from the very beginning. Manipulative statements about my contributions to the band only reinforce the decision I made to move on to other things.”