Release Date: Out now.
Record Label: Withered Hand Records.
Unique is a word that is often overused in the world of music journalism, as a lazy, throwaway description; however, Crumbling Ghost’s gem of a debut is just that.
Signed to Withered Hand Records, and living out their ‘lush green meadow’ fantasies in the very un-green London Town; colloquial imagery is offset by smouldering folk-rock and mid-tempo doom.
Relying as much on the folk baroque overtures of Pentangle as the feedback blasts of the Melvins; the opening blur of ‘The Collector’ plays on the quartet’s unpredictability to fuse neighbouring genres on a whim. For instance, ‘Daytrip to Bungay’ is a bouncy, two-minute interlude that smacks of vintage prog-rock ideals, as does the bass-led ditty of ‘Aggro Pranto’.
Despite its ‘Britishness’ (see ‘The Man of Burnham Town’ or the tongue-in-cheek ‘Battle of Barnet’) Crumbling Ghost’s fleeting cross-genre dispersion will be sure to capture the attention of listeners further a field, as well as being admired and envied by home-grown bands. It could be a while before this uniqueness is emulated.
