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Ghost Cousin creates spectral melodies on debut album, Scotland

7 Sep

Full disclosure: I love Grizzly Bear. I think that “Two Weeks” is the greatest song I’ve ever heard, I love Daniel Rossen’s voice, and Ed Droste’s Twitter is one of the best. I’m not obsessed with them, but there will be no disrespecting the Bear while I’m around. Enter Ghost Cousin, a band that could be easily labelled poor man’s Grizzly Bear, rich man’s Poor Moon; however they have truly a unique sound that will one day be only theirs.

Scotland is an album that too few people have heard. After listening to it only once, I found myself humming the tune of “Healed Eyes” while darkly brooding. The deliberate rhythm of the album is mesmerizing and gives way to delicate guitar riffs, as in “Run Home.” The songwriting is poetic, creating stories with characters that you grow attached to: a mother, a son, a lover, an enemy. Each track is very endearing, each character a part of your life whether you knew them before or not.

Ghost Cousin is a fairly new band, only having released an EP, “Landscape of Animals,” before this. They are still underwhelmed by the industry it seems, after recording most of this album in a church in their hometown of Edmonton, Canada. They will know the headache of record companies and labels once they come into fame, which I predict will be fairly soon.  At least, I hope so; I don’t want to see Ghost Cousin leave the spotlight for a long while.

Scotland is out now, and you can hear it below. For more information on Ghost Cousin, visit their Facebook.

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Reaching Sainthood: Holy Holy releases serendipitous single, “History”

3 Sep

Holy Holy

What is in the water in Australia? Something great like fluoride obviously, because I have yet again been jamming to a track by a fairly new band from down under. Holy Holy began as a duo of Timothy Carroll and Oscar Dawson, and has been recently expanded to include Ryan Strathie and Graham Ritchie. The group’s name is indicative of the origins of their most recent single, “History”; songwriting borne from a miracle demonstrates just how talented these handsome globetrotters truly are.

Everything about Holy Holy is near-miraculous, in fact. Carroll and Dawson grew up separately in Australia, but met in southeast Asia, and became friends. Then, they both traveled to Europe, happened to meet up in Stockholm, and then decided they should make music together. They shared demos between Stockholm and Berlin for a few years, and are now finally back together in Australia joined by Strathie and Ritchie in the studio. 

The track’s origin shares a certain fortuitous symmetry with the way the band formed. While in the studio laying down some other tracks that they had been working on, they tinkered with a tune they had barely started writing and ended up recording it on the spot. That miracle-baby-song is “History,” which is very rich in lyrical power and rhythmic honesty about the dishonesty of our pasts. “And the only risk you take is that all of your mistakes are right,” condemns Carroll. The song reminds me of the Joshua Oppenheimer documentary, The Act of Killing, an easy example of the winners rewriting history, washing away any stain of corruption or wrongdoing in their own administrations.

I could of course be exaggerating the meaning of “History,” but you can’t blame me for jumping to conclusions, especially conclusions of a politically motivated nature. After all, their single “House of Cards” was written to speak out against the poor treatment of those seeking asylum; looks like Holy Holy is turning out to be quite the U2. Holy Holy has creative melodies, but I would not be surprised if they ended up gaining fame due to their outspoken political views inside those melodies.

“History” is available on iTunes. You can find more information about Holy Holy on their website.

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End-of-Summer Song: “Running Around” by Young Maverick

31 Aug

Let’s face it: summer is coming to a close. We only have a few short weeks to wrap up our summer fun, which means I can finally shed this bikini body that I put on back in April. It’s both cleansing but also disappointing, to know that the weather is about to turn and theaters will lose mindless blockbusters in favor of Oscar bait. And what we’ve learned from those fall movies is that summer romances just aren’t meant to last.

 

“Running Around” is summer love. It is fast, fun, but also causes a little heartache once it ends. But then again, summer romances are disposable, not to be taken seriously. Young Maverick takes heartbreak and forgets about it, because wouldn’t you rather dance than wallow in misery?

Young Maverick is an Aussie quartet that labels their music as “holiday pop,” which made me initially think that they sang Christmas carols. The Americanized translation of their new genre is better stated as “vacation pop,” intending to invoke memories of the fun and carefree times when you were on summer retreat. And it turned out that there could not be a more accurate genre. The swift guitars reminiscent of “Cousins” contrast well with frontman, Robbie Keith’s bored tone to create a great summer song that resonates with all young mavericks who revel in summer hi-jinx.

“Running Around” is off of Young Maverick’s newest EP, Holiday Popular, out now. Visit their website for more information.

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Colony House releases Van Jam Session of hit song “Silhouettes”

27 Aug

Sometimes all it takes to have a hit song is a sing-along chorus. Everyone loves to sing along with all the woohoo’s in “Song 2,” those na’s in “Hey Jude” (for far too long), and the hey ya’s in, well, “Hey Ya,” and because we can’t get them out of our heads, they become hits, then classics. Looks like Colony House has taken notice with their newest van jamming rendition of their hit single “Silhouettes.”

 

 

The studio version of this song is like hearing tinny Young the Giant; the vocals are dripping with reverb and the cute, infatuated lyrics all come together to form a sunny indie pop tune. A great summer song, but seemingly forgettable. But in the van it all changes- they strip away the exact production, add a hiccuping drum machine and kick up that quivering falsetto on those killer whoo-oo’s. We are all driving down the road, down the road in that van with you, hooting like adorable owls.

I have to admit though, their focused expressions do make the van version a personal experience. I loved watching their excited faces, especially when they held eye contact to time the final refrain. Colony House ends up matching the adorable nature of their own song with their body language. “Silhouettes” is on their debut full-length release, When I Was Younger, which is out now. Visit their website for more information. 

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Be Impressive with The Griswolds

22 Aug

The Griswolds

The Indie music world is abuzz with Griswold fever in anticipation of monday’s U.S. release of the four-piece Australian band’s debut album Be Impressive. The album, which was released today in Australia and New Zealand, has already received rave reviews from those who have had an opportunity to listen to the 11-track LP, and I can confirm that the jaunty, alternative/pop sounds of The Griswolds is not only infectious but also packs a major sing-along punch that finds a nice-sized one-bedroom apartment in that little sector of your brain where songs live.

The Griswolds, for those who have not heard of the band before, have been on the music radar since singer/guitarist Christopher Whitehall and lead guitarist Daniel Duque-Perez founded the band in 2012. Quickly, the band was picked up by several blogs on the heels of the band’s debut EP Heart of a Lion, which features four excellent tracks (one of which I am including below). The band  became Australia’s Triple J “Unearthed” feature artist, won a slot on the 2012 Parklife Festival lineup, and toured with Indie staples St Lucia, San Cisco, and Django Django. The Griswolds represent a strong “media” band, in that the band has garnered so much attention through online music pundits (myself included), and this is mainly because the band is so downright exciting.

In advance of monday’s U.S. release let’s take a listen to the song from the album that has been receiving the most airplay thus far, “Beware the Dog.”

The song starts with a cheerful solo riff followed immediately by the riff behind a felicitous rhythm fit with claps and creative percussion. The mid-verse harmony tease is concise and melodious. The chorus is classic Indie dance, a hint of dominican island mixed with fun pop harmonies. It’s the audio version of a good time, and it’s tough shaking the drive to get up and dance along. The track combines the pop synth of Vampire Weekend with the dance rhythms of Grouplove and Passion Pit, but, in a sense, The Griswolds are a bit edgier than these bands, and that is one reason why I like the tunes.

“Red Tuxedo” is my favorite track off the EP because it is so simple. The song, therefore, is different from most Griswolds tracks. The listener is greeted to a delicate guitar riff, dulcet vocal, and harmonies. It is an easy listen and I cannot shake the beauty in its structure. Great stuff.

 

Check out more from The Griswolds on the Website, Facebook, or Twitter

 

 

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