Post-punk has always been hard for me to enjoy. I like The Cure, but could live without the three minute track intros. I understand that the extended musical passages are used to create atmosphere, but my attention span has been severely damaged due to years of short punk songs. As a result, Ghost Heart’s debut full length is a tough listen for me. It is an enjoyable release. What it lacks in brevity, it makes up for with quality. But, it is not one of those records that lends itself to the modern era of shuffles and singles.
My first experience listening to this record came via a trip back from O’Hare International Airport to Carol Stream. To me, that is the ideal situation for a record like this. It is a long, relatively calm record that is best for stretches of uninterrupted listening. Overall, it clocks in at just about 40 minutes. Of the eight tracks, only two are shorter than five minutes. One of those tracks is basically a short interlude, so that barely counts.
Anyway, what you have here is pretty solid post-punk. Very heavy on tribal drums. Clear guitars are king here. The is barely any distortion. Pretty atmospheric keyboards/synth sounds are also spread throughout. Things get intricate, but never get too dense. There is definite shoegaze influence, as far as being able to make so much work at any given time, but it never gets overdone. The best point of comparison would probably be Animal Collective. But, even that comparison is a little lazy.
Shit, I guess I should just sum this up in a pull quote or something. This record is a great bit of textured, atmospheric post-punk. Listen to it on headphones and be stoked.
Team Reasonable 