Oh and Ulti, have you heard Thing from the CoC bonus tracks? I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
I have not heard it, and this makes me very very sad.
I’ll be honest. We’re going to have a bit of a shorter write-up for Ghost. There’s not quite as much going on, musically or lyrically, to obsessively analyze like the previous three albums. Furthermore, I don’t listen to this one quite as much, because I need to be in the mood for it to really be effective. But when I’m in the right mood, it’s fantastic. Anyway.
Ghost is beautiful. That’s honestly all I need to say about it. It’s a great album to put on in the background (and absolutely perfect for sleeping). The ambient keyboard pads throughout provide a very cohesive backdrop for Devin’s ethereal vocals and pan-flute from Kat Epple. It’s a hell of a statement, especially after Deconstruction. But really, there isn’t a single other album in Devin’s discography to this point that was even hinting at music like this. This isn’t quite as stripped down or exposed as Ki, but it has the same basic level of “depth” if that makes any sense. There’s plenty of layers. After all, it’s still a Devin album. But, the layers are more singular keyboard patches rather than multiple moving parts of horns/keyboards/guitars/whatever.
I like how much variety Ghost has despite all being relaxed, ambient music. The title track and Blackberry have a sort of country twang to them (one that will be explored in MUCH greater detail later). Other songs, like Heart Baby and Monsoon, focus exclusively on the interplay between Devin’s guitar and Kat’s flute. By far the most unique pair of songs on the disc, and a personal highlight, are Dark Matters and Texada. They’re the only moments on the album where things escalate to anything above a relaxing, tranquil experience. Texada features a pulsing bass-line alongside gentle arpeggios and a more pronounced drum part. If you cranked up the guitars of Texada to be more distorted and threw down some screams, it wouldn’t be out of place on something like Terria. I’ve heard some complaints that Texada feels out of place on Ghost because of how different it is to everything else, but I think it really helps give the rest of the songs more context, and it’s fantastic in its own right.
That’s really all I have to say about this one. It’s very beautiful, relaxing, and a worthwhile “chill-out” companion.