Rating: ****1/2
Mother Ghost is a band from Houston, TX (Geto Boys represent!) I'm completely unfamiliar with coming into writing this review. I like it that way sometimes. Just totally fresh ears to the whole thing. It's like an adventure with almost no expectations of what's to be found at the destination point.
This release titled "Somnámbulo" is a full length album that according to the one-sheet is going to offer us some post-punk with possible hints of 80s-inspired new wave. That sounds like a pretty killer combo, to be honest.
I'm gonna get busy checking this one out and as always I'll give y'all a full report when it's done. You know where.
Watch the music video for "La Petite Mort" below:
We start off with the very detailed title "Hiding in a Dumpster Waiting for ICE Agents to Leave I". This reminds me of TV on the Radio and that's generally a good thing. The song lacks melody, but I'm pretty sure that's on purpose. It's a solid track despite the inability to hum along with it. Next tune is "Ungrateful". This one sounds like it would be playing in an 80s flick that James Spader probably starred in. I like it. It has a sense of methodical mischief that rides right along side the vehicle that the track is driving in. Title track "Somnámbulo" is next and it's a whole vibe. Reminds me a bit of the Tindersticks if they were kind of into INXS. I dig it. "Le Petite Morte" and "White God" both bend into The Cure territory and I'm not made at it. "Le Petite Morte" in particular shows a pop sensibility that I think works well for them. "Brundlefly" is another good example of the band getting out of their own way to make a great pop-song that still retains the moodiness that they are famous for. "Waves" takes us back to the true post-punk ideology in a way that remains exciting, if far less accessible to the basic pop-fan. "Avarice" and "Criminal" remind me of Mutiny-era Birthday Party stuff with howling vocals and a wall-of-sound backdrop. These are 2 of my favorite tracks on the whole album. Brilliant, heavy stuff here. The industrial "Raices (dirt)" is next and it's another banger. I could see this being played at very high volumes and some underground speakeasy and the crowd going absolutely apeshit over it. "Hiding in a Dumpster Waiting for ICE Agents to Leave II" reiterates the original message from earlier in the record, in a slow, deliberate way that really punches the point home. I really ended up loving this album.
