In late 2015, Cooper Handy and Nick Atkinson shared “392 - 2509:Walk This Way,” their first joint single as Club Casualties. The song’s visual treatment — their first and (until today) only music video — arrived a few months later. At the time, Handy (who still records as Lucy) and Atkinson (who produced under the moniker Ghost in those days) were core members of the Western Massachusetts weirdo rap collective Dark World, profiled at length by Patrick D. McDermott for The FADER in 2016. The group has since dissolved, but Lucy has blossomed as a solo artist since, releasing music at a consistently impressive clip. (In November, he collaborated with fellow former Dark World member Gods Wisdom on the joint LP February Motel.)
On May 11, 2017, Club Casualties returned with a second single, “Hits the Wall,” which would appear on their self-titled debut album the following year. It’s a lovely record, fusing Handy’s singular approach to pop vocals with Atkinson’s left-field beats: a dyslexic tasting menu of electronic styles. But it was followed by radio silence. Save for a one-off 2020 track titled “Knock Out the Light,” the duo did not display any signs of life for five full years.
All this is to say that today’s official video for “Hits the Wall,” uploaded on the sixth anniversary of the song’s release, is a welcome surprise. With all the lo-fi New England charm of the early Dark World clips, it transports the viewer back to a (slightly) simpler time. Watch it above.
Even more exciting is the news — delivered exclusively to The FADER by Handy himself — that a new Club Casualties album is coming soon. Titled Bridge Under Water, it’s tentatively scheduled for a summer release.
