The stylistically diverse songs that Ghost Estates debuted over the last year or so make much more sense in the context of their debut album. ‘Paris’ had a new wave streak and a serious sax solo; ‘October’ was more of a sky-reaching guitar anthem than anything else and ‘Forever Or Never’ was a direct to the heart indie-rock track so it was hard to know where this band stood, especially as they were formed from two very different bands – Sickboy and 8ball.
The self-titled debut album reveals a band in exploratory form and ties those disparate elements in. There are three songwriters in the band and that gives Ghost Estates a multifaceted sound; they revel in indie-guitar atmospherics, soaring and shredded guitar lines, pop, synth melodies, sax samples, marching drums and Britpop vocals. It’s an impressive, if dense-sounding, first album which was actually recorded before the band played live for the first time last year. It was mixed by Muse’s live engineer Marc Carolan.
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You can listen to album right here:
Ghost Estates is released this Saturday on CD, vinyl and download. A launch takes place from 11pm on Saturday with White Collar Boy and The Mighty Stef supporting.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
_needs_ a download button…