On April 14, local Philly band (and friends of Phindie) Casual Fantastic releases a new double album, The Wingle and the Wangle. Led by songwriter Josh McIlvain, the Mount Airy–Roxborough band began in 2019 as something of an original indie rock busking duo, with drummer Nikitas Menotiades, playing venues in Philly and New York, including more than one supermarket, street fairs, and arts festivals.
The Wingle and the Wangle is the band’s 3rd full album and first double album, but also involves the contributions of a number of special guests, including Caleb Cliff (of Germantown), Sam McIlvain (of Mt Airy and leader of the funk revue band Loose and Alright), and Nik’s brother Paul Menotiades (of Pittsburgh) who is a founding member of the band Punchline.
“Because The Wingle and Wangle album crosses so many genres, I wanted to pepper the album with a few different vocalists. For one thing, I’m writing music for a band, and so I’m not always the right person to sing every song!” explains Josh, who brought in David Burgess (of Bala Cynwyd) and Mark Wheeler (Fishtown) to sing lead on a number of songs. “And I made sure that I gave them songs that I like to sing, and not some kind of rescue project.”
Casual Fantastic’s music ranges from indie rock to lounge folk to Americana noir, country blues, and straight ahead rock n roll. The Wingle and the Wangle is influenced by the deeply varied sounds of the 1970s to early 80s—from the sparseness of Lou Reed to Gene Clark to Neil Young to the Talking Heads. With strong storytelling and humor, this collection features tales of lost souls, happy living, fun love, destructive love, jealousy of the dead, being fantastic, being weird, cults, a decaying military outpost, small town parades, and the Dollar General.
“What are the wingle and the wangle? To me, they are the shadowy little bits, lurking in the background, waiting to turn your world upside down,” says Josh. “Visually, I think of them like the little black dots you see as your eyes adjust the light. It’s like they scurry off, but at some point they’ll come back, and make trouble.”
Advance copies of the new album are available at Hideaway Music in Chestnut Hill and Main Street Music in Manayunk; it’ll be on your favorite streaming platform beginning April 14. casualfantastic.com
Which specific vocalists did Josh bring in to contribute to the album, and where are they from?