Written by: Alex Green

Namechecking James Joyce, Stonewall Jackson and Facebook, Caustic Casanova’s Imminent Eminence takes a long, mistrustful look at the modern world and its inhabitants, resulting in singer Michael Wollitz declaring, “I hate everyone I want to like.”

An innovative trio from Washington D.C., Caustic Casanova’s debut is rife with youthful frustration about everything from technology to artificial relationships to Florida’s zoning ordinances.

As varied as their subject matter, their aural attack is just as varied: for starters, there’s the jazzy hard rock of “I Hate Everyone I Want To Like”; the crunchy pop of “Titian Titillation,” and the ethereal acoustica of “Mythical July.”

An accomplished trio—drummer Stefanie Zaenker is just marvelous and bassist Francis Beringer is refreshingly innovative—Caustic Casanova play a winning and almost conversational brand of indie prog rock. Take for example, “The Town Crier,” which finds Wollitz railing against the superficiality of friends: “But in reality, you could outline in bullet point form the extent of my interest in these matters with the blunt tip of a permanent marker on the rim of a shot glass.”

Elsewhere, the straight up funk of “Five Flag Forest” brings to mind Suck on This-era Primus; “Regolith Rachel” has a dreamy start that morphs into a metal jam, and “The Soft Machinery of Success” is a hard-edged bluesy number that urges: “…let’s swim in blood and money together,” as if to suggest you can’t sell out without getting your hands a bit dirty.

A splendid debut.