The Ghosts

The Ghosts’ new album “The End” presents a collection of songs spawned from the personal tragedies of two of the founding members. The tracks are worthy of the band’s name in that they all posses a unique floating quality. Their sound is a foot tapping indie-pop inspired one mixed with some mystical sounding synth effects. Additionally the singer (Starling) has a great clear voice sounding as if Paul McCartney has been a massive influence. The combination of all this creates a very warm feel to the album.

The vocal melodies really shine in places. Starling’s clean cool vocals suit the dreamy quality of the music well, and help to create a nice and relaxed atmosphere overall. “Company Like Yours” is a prime example of this and perhaps the best song on the album. It is in fact very reminiscent of the McCartney’s “Yesterday”.

If any of the tracks from this album were presented as a single they would stand up well as an individual song, however as a whole this album sadly does not quite hit the mark in one crucial area. There is very little variation between the songs, and although the ghost-like quality of the sound is done very well, it is done almost unfailingly without significant alteration. The effect of this is minimizes an entire eleven track album into roughly two songs, a fast one and a slow one.

This aside, “The End” is a great listen with an optimistic message of dragging yourself out of a negative place and back into happiness. The dreamy spaced-out sound provided by obscure, but pleasant, mixtures of synthesizers and guitars instantly puts you in a calmer place. From here Starling’s voice serves to soothe, even when the music is fast enough to move you to dancing. This is why it is a great shame that diversity is a problem here. If however the floating indie-pop vibe really appeals to you, then you may not agree that this is a problem at all, otherwise you may find your mind wandering towards the later tracks.