Tuesday, October 18, 2011

GHOST OUTFIT Tuesday / I Want Someone Else


If you followed the weekly ‘Ghost Thursday’ videos the band released recently you may have noticed that amongst the pet hamsters, mechanical diggers and dog-walking, when Ghost Outfit do appear, predictably, they are donning white sheets. Literal interpretation and a penchant for dressing up aside, the hand-held, DIY style to the videos (some self-directed) is mimicked in the songs: noisy, often abrasive home-recorded tunes bashed out with shaky, rough edges left intact (see this January's mixtape for an earlier, melodic moment ‘I Was Good When I Was Young’). For their debut official release, on Salford’s Sways Records, the duo of Jack Hardman and Mike Benson are still planting their flag firmly in the lo-fi noise camp but this double A-side single shows Ghost Outfit striking out to some fresh territories.


‘Tuesday’ is pell-mell rush of compressed energy, spiky guitars and booming drums – behind the euphoria, it softly sings of cowardice and love whilst giving a poppy bounce to the sound of early Yo La Tengo or Dinosaur Jr or more contemporary acolytes Male Bonding or No Age . Then to show they’re not simply one gear pastiche merchants the companion track ‘I Want Someone Else’ is all slow-burn malevolence and shadow, a sorry tale of obsession and rejection that skulks along with its misery peaking in swelling thunderous cymbal crashes. Like their masked appearance on film, the vocals in both are not quite fully revealed, their just out-of-hearing presence sending me back for repeated listens as much as the infectious, frazzled melodies.

These two songs alone would be reason enough to invest in this release (7” white vinyl or digital download) but if ordered via Bandcamp both come with 13 extra songs from the home-recorded Young Ghosts EP. And for a mere £2 on top of the price of the vinyl you also get a cassette tape of these extra songs plus additional artwork AND a plushy handmade ghost. ‘Tuesday / I Want Someone Else’ is not released until Monday 31 October (Halloween spookily enough) but be advised to pre-order - a very limited edition that is likely to vanish into air.





Ghost Outfit Tuesday / I Want Someone Else [BUY]

1 comment:

Benny said...

There's only three special editions left!

Once they - they gone.