Brooklyn-based musical duo Charming Disaster have announced Spring and Summer live dates celebrating the release of their latest album, Our Lady of Radium.
The new album represents a departure from the occult themes the goth-folk duo have become known for on their past releases.
On the new album, Charming Disaster’s Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris apply their playfully dark artistic sensibility to the life and discoveries of pioneering scientist Marie Curie, as well as the tragic story of the “Radium Girls” and other consequences of Curie’s work.
Our Lady of Radium will be released on CD, 12-inch vinyl LP and via download, simultaneously with a limited-edition lyrics and art book that includes Charming Disaster’s research notes and original illustrations by artist Susan Saas. I hope you’ll consider advancing their show with an interview, news story or album review.
Tell us about your story as a duo
It seems like we’ve always been Charming Disaster, although we are told we began in 2012, after a chance encounter at a local bar, where Jeff’s band, Kotorino, was playing and Ellia was in the audience—she struck up a conversation and the rest was history. Ellia also had a band, Sweet Soubrette, and after Jeff came to see them play a few weeks later it became obvious that we should join forces and form a two-person supergroup. “We should write songs together,” we said. “We could rehearse as much as we want,” we said. “It will be just for fun,” we said. We set out to write some songs that told stories about two characters in various sorts of trouble. But what began as a side project soon snowballed to take over our lives completely. Dark bargains may have been made. So far it’s all been worth it.
What do you think is the most important aspect of your life right now?
Being in this band. And the search for immortality.
What makes this song special in your opinion?
“Radium Girls” tells a tragic true story about the young women who were poisoned by their work painting watch dials with radium-based paint. This was the first song we wrote of the collection of songs that ultimately became the album Our Lady of Radium—there was something so poignant about the Radium Girls’ story that it haunted us. Their plight and their search for justice led to laws and safeguards that eventually became the occupational safety protections we have today, but none of the Radium Girls survived to benefit from them. We wanted to pay tribute to these young women, honor their memory, and give them a voice.
What inspired this album?
Our Lady of Radium was inspired by the life and work of pioneering scientist Marie Curie, who discovered the element radium and the phenomenon of radioactivity. Her story is filled with fascinating details – romance, drama, scandal, even duels – and on the album we explore moments in her personal history, her scientific research, and the consequences of her discoveries. We first got interested in Curie through the gorgeous graphic novel Radioactive by Lauren Redniss, which gave us a glimpse of how colorful her life was. On our previous albums we’ve focused on myth, magic, and mortality, and there’s plenty of that to mine when it comes to Marie Curie.
What are some of the core messages here?
Usually, our songs are self-contained universes which have their own narrative. With Our Lady of Radium, we wanted a larger canvas in which to explore Curie’s story; each song contributes to the whole and paints a pointillistic, yet nonlinear picture. Almost every song on this album contains a song fragment from somewhere else on the album; these can sound like ghostly premonitions or haunted memories, further emphasizing the nonlinear narrative.
How do you think tik tok and social media are contributing to change an artist’s career?
It all comes down to connecting with people, and it’s more efficient if you can do that without being physically present. (Some prefer telepathy or haunting, but social media can work well too.) We’ve found that livestreaming lets us combine all three—when we started a livestreaming series in early 2020, we had no idea how much it would deepen our connection with our fans, allow us to infiltrate their dreams, and provide comfort from afar.
What excites you about your life?
After nearly 10 years of working together, we’re still continually excited that we get to make art together, and that we get to share it with an audience. We’re excited about getting to tour again, even a little bit – we treasure the serendipity of chance encounters on the road, getting to meet our fans in real life, and creating real moments of magic and communion.
What are some of your core values as a human being?
Making real connections with people is important to us, as is creating an environment where oddballs and weirdos—who are dear to us—feel comfortable expressing themselves and connecting with each other. We believe in kindness as a subversive act. We believe in the power of stories and humor as a way to navigate darkness and confusion. And we have a deep curiosity about the world, which is full of wonder and mystery. We try to notice and appreciate those things and share them with other people.
What are your projects for this year?
After Our Lady of Radium releases on March 4, we have some live shows planned (knock wood!), including our album release show in NYC on March 10, a West Coast tour in late March/early April, and some summer tour dates in the works. We’re also already working on our next album.
