[T*]

Alice Glass, one half of experimental noise duo Crystal Castles, has announced she is leaving the group. In a series of posts to Twitter and Facebook, the Toronto artist announced that she would no longer perform with Ethan Kath, “for a multitude of reasons both professional and personal”.

Although a representative for the duo has not yet confirmed whether Kath would be operating under the moniker in future, Glass’s statements appear to confirm that this is the end of Crystal Castles as we know them:


Amid the neon-clad haze of the UK’s new rave scene, the duo first broke back in 2004. “She was getting high all summer,” Kath told the Guardian in 2010. “I found her on the street; she was higher than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Releasing three albums during their 10-year career, their last record (III) marked perhaps the end of a Crystal Castles trilogy: debut album (I) and their second effort (II) were released in 2008 and 2010, respectively. With tracks like Crimewave, Celestica and Not in Love, their single with the Cure’s Robert Smith, the duo were famed for their fusion of ear-bludgeoning industrial sounds; described recently by the Guardian as “scalp-throbbing riot rave”.

Glass topped 2008’s annual NME Cool List, and was famed for her frenzied stage performances – during which she was often found licking blood off her bandmate’s chest and hurling herself into the crowd, and in some cases responding to those in the audience who did the same to her