Off the back of an appearance at Portals 2024, a performance which enlightened and grabbed the attention of curious listeners, New Ghost present a spiritual experience. An enthralling and emotionally rich adventure, twisting and turning to genres a plenty showing us the many layers to their palette of sounds. New Ghost are a limitless vision of creativity; ‘Like Lazarus’ is a beginning drenched in hazy nostalgia, like a child’s first trip into Lavender Town evoking comparisons to Copeland with its lush and vibrant waves of cascading indie/alternative rock. It’s an introduction to comfort with warmth and sincerity while ‘Cherry Violence’ is an alt-metal/shoegaze tidal wave with washed out guitars and Deftones like inspiration but retaining a unique identity steering clear of imitation.
New Ghost within the first three tracks already wear many faces and each one is a joy in viewing, their ability to take to each sub-genre with such confident and assured ability is impressive. Fans of post-rock darlings Din of Celestial Birds will be sure to take New Ghost in as children of their own. Swimming in a pleasant pool of melody which is so versatile, in a clear ability to drift from a great heaviness into such a soft landing and place a blanket over the listener and make them feel safe creates a wonderful unpredictability. When tracks like ‘Viscera’ arrive you’ve been lulled into safety by ‘Dreamsong’ which is decorated with celestial vocals and quivering electronics only to be dragged back to your feet by the fuzz and crunch of guitars into an atomic crescendo.
There is a thread of personal devastation harboured within the walls of this album, holding its heart and soul high above its own body to share scarred experience and open a window to the hurt. It never loses its core storytelling ability as every peak and valley hits as precisely the right time to maximise impact. Further reminders of Copeland come during ‘Wayfarer’ which flutters with such ease, it departures from the albums alternative rock structure but it’s no surprise from a band with such depth. An electronic stand out which connects and fuses like a chain of people holding hands. Vocalists Chris Anderson and Ellie Richards are a soothing entity and create the atmosphere which is in perfect harmony with albums rich tapestry of ideas. Closing an album of this grandeur is like a season finale and the questioning of it ever living up to the experience which brought us here but band of this ambition know how to bring you back out of the clouds and to the cold floor of earth. Beginning with lullaby vocals which rumbles with electronic warble into a Mogwai sized tectonic plate of post-rock climbing into space only to plummet into static to leave us in deep reflection and ready for another play through.
To have such a natural and immediate ability to transport a listener and allow them to sit in the clouds like Sigur Rós and then collide with the ground with such force like Hum is incredible. This deserves to reach every sub-genre fanbase the album touches on. New Ghost can coast with such versatility between all the post and alt genres and never feel out of place, which puts them in the category of bands like Thrice who cast their net of sound far and wide.