While a singer-songwriter could use any instrument, Emanuel Casablanca’s guitar is the true vessel that carries his story wherever he goes. On “Pistol,” Casablanca sings with a soft clarity that belies the guitar’s power, which answers like weather, cracking in like thunder. The push and pull recalls players like Jimi Hendrix: subtlety giving way to voltage, melody dissolving into muscle. Not contrast for contrast’s sake, but the engine of the song — the refrain “The girl’s a pistol” sparks through every verse.
The video premieres exclusively here while Casablanca is on the road for Jubilee, released back in November.
This May, he’ll unveil It’s Getting Strange, a companion of sorts as it is also drawn from earlier recordings he’s chosen to bring forward now. If Jubilee leans hard into his blues-rock instincts, It’s Getting Strange moves with more blues-soul and R&B undertones, featuring songs with Kelli Baker, stretching the emotional palette.
“I was listening to a lot of Jack White during this time,” Casablanca says. “He was very instrumental in my songwriting. I guess you can say, when you listen to both It’s Getting Strange and Jubilee, that those albums are my origin story.” That origin story is audible here. These albums capture the raw mechanics of how Casablanca thinks, feels, and moves through music.
This spring, fans can anticipate more from Casablanca as he readies It’s Getting Strange, with deeper insights and conversations coming to ABS.
