Castor, the Twin

Background

The album was conceived during Into the Spin tour, Dessa's first tour with the live trio. The trio consisted of Dustin Kiel on guitar and keys, Sean McPherson on bass and Joey Van Phillips on drums. Audiences responded so well to their inventive re-arrangements, and the nuance of their performances, that the new treatments seemed to warrant capturing.

In an interview with NPR, Dessa talked about the process. "In making this new record, I thought, I had songs that played really differently when they were performed with live instrumentation [...] So we have grand piano, mandolin and stuff that you would associate more readily with an orchestral vibe."

Title

The album title refers to the twin brothers Castor and Pollux from Greek and Roman mythology. Their father was a god, their mother human. Consequently, Castor was born human, while Pollux immortal. Castor is the milder of the two.

Dessa said, "To me, many of the songs on Castor are the more organic ‘twins’ to the versions that were recorded for previous, highly produced projects like A Badly Broken Code or Paper Tiger’s Made Like Us. There’s a human quality to these recordings that I hoped to convey in the title."

Reception

In an interview with The Indie Spiritualist, Dessa talked about the responses:

In the end, I was heartened by the responses of listeners, who seemed to really get and appreciate the musical differences between A Badly Broken Code and the more organic and orchestral interpretations.