A lot of songs these days are about romantic relationships starting, falling apart, or ending. The heartbreak you feel when a relationship ends can be translated into many different types of relationships though. Rather than focusing on a significant other in the romantic sense of the label, one-half of dark pop duo Slingshot Dakota, Carly Comando, turned her attention to how she felt about friendships on the pair’s newest single, “Casino Night.”
“I wrote the song after a really good weekend with friends. It was kind of like that feeling when you realize what real friendship is like; being able to be yourself with someone and that person is still uplifting and supportive,” Comando says of the song’s initial inspiration. She adds that by experiencing such bright and positive emotions, she was able to turn inward and recognize how other friendships are not worth it if they don’t bring that same type of joy (spark joy, anyone?). “It put things in perspective why one friendship in particular wasn’t working for me,” the singer admits. The unspoken nature of adult friendships in music is something that reigned supreme to Comando and her husband/musical partner Tom Patterson when writing “Casino Nights.” With no other songs to turn to in those moments of heartbreak and sadness about the loss of a friendship, in true Slingshot Dakota fashion, the pair made their own.
“The chorus came first and I just went with it. Then I basically wrote very much diary style about this breakup with the friend,” Comando says. Regarding the true essence of “Casino Night,” Comando says this: “The song is about that heartbreaking situation where you you love someone so much and respect them for the experience and the growth that they’ve given you but, you’ve kind of hit like an end point. At least for now.”
With a new album Heavy Banding coming out on My 24, Comando says listeners can expect the most authentic version of Slingshot Dakota. Comando says that in the past, her and Patterson would try and focus less on their marriage, but in reality, they are married and sometimes cheesy in all the best ways. By turning over a new leaf and posting photos of their love, their dog, and most importantly, their dog, Slingshot Dakota are showcasing themselves as real and vulnerable human being artists.
Watch the official video for “Casino Night” below.
