Lazy Saturday morning, sorry for the late post. But this record is great for a lazy morning. I saw Radical Face at the Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge and it was by far one of the most funny depressing amazing shows I've seen, maybe the best show I've seen there, and I saw DeVotchKa and tUnE-yArDs there. Ghost is maybe their most well known album simply due to the fact that Welcome Home is on it, a song that numerous people don't know, but have heard on commercials or in movies. We're talking Chevy Volt and Nikon commercials to movies like Humboldt County, Forks Over Knives, and The Vicious Kind to TV like Graceland and Blacklist. This song has gotten around. But a doubt few have really dived into the album it's on, because it's full of other amazing songs that have a great magnitude and catchy hooks.
Opening is the haunting instrumental Asleep on a Train, which starts off with a chair squeak, a sample he does bring with him during touring. It's disturbing as it is peaceful. Then the big hitter, Welcome Home, there isn't too much you can say that hasn't already been said up there. It's catchy, it'll get you singing, and it feels good to listen to when you are homesick. Let the River In is spooky, hell the whole album is spooky, like a creepy ass lullaby, but what do you expect with an album called Ghost There is something pretty and unsettling about the line "don't scare me off now I'm your only friend." Glory begins with the sounds of army soldiers marching and whistling into battle, and why the song contains a very pretty piano, it's about a solider who defected from the army and went into hiding with his lover, only to be turned into the authorities by her after a fight and watch as the whole town stoned him to death. Grim as hell, but sounds beautiful right? He tell's you the song meanings during his shows which are all very grim and borderline disturbing, but their is a weird beauty to them too, because they all sound so hopeful and up-lifting. Strangest Thing embraces the spookiness of the album and dives you into a dark melodic song filled with crows and thoughts of madness. Turn it over and you have what I think is my favorite song on the album, Wrapped In Piano String. It has a great melody and great hooks, again it's morbid because it's about committing suicide and haunting your family, but you'd honestly never tell. Back comes that creaky chair for Along the Road, which sounds like a glorious piano resolution. Then you have Haunted, with its simple repeating piano hook, it feels like you've opened a music box filled with old ghost. The mood continues to go down a dark rabbit hole as you get to Winter Is Coming, and no it's not about Game of Thrones, it's actually about a man who discovered that the seasons are people and sensed a bad Winter was coming, so he kidnapped Summer and kept him locked in his basement until winter eventually came anyways and the man and his family had to flee before they were destroyed, pretty imaginative. Sleepwalking is a slow and mellow as it sounds, bringing your through the motions of the nocturnal act of unrest. Ending the album is Homesick, a raw acoustic recording that perfectly brings the album to a close.
Great for rainy days, Halloween, spooky nights alone in a giant house, or if you like really good music. You can get the album on Amazon for $20. You won't be disappointed, if you like dark lyrics or uplifting melodies, there is something for everyone. And to prove that Radical Face aren't full of nothing but despair, here is their cover of Robin Hood's Not In Nottingham:
Enjoy and happy hunting!
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