Send "Warm Ghost " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 The Ghost of It LingersThe artwork from which Warm Ghost take their name is highly indicative of the music that they make. The piece, Katharina Fritsch’s Geist und Blutlache, is both deeply unsettling and haunting simultaneously. Whether one’s theory of art rests on subjective interpretation or objective form, it seems difficult to deny the unnerving scene set in the work. The piece is set to divide its viewers; the strange puddle and the oddly-shaped ghost (if one could even call it that) in the background cause unrest in their stoic stillness. Likewise, the music of Warm Ghost, comprised of multi-instrumentalists Paul Duncan and Oliver Chapoy, is equally interpretive. The album is treated more like a canvas than a recording; the various instruments weave their way in and out of songs, layering on top of each other as they build into hazy, at times ethereal choruses. Each chord feels more like a brush stroke than a finger pushing a key on a synthesizer. The parallel between Fritsch’s art and the band’s music may attribute more significance to the band’s debut LP than is appropriate. Context, as is the case with any record, is necessary. 2011 has seen many bands pegged with the silly label “chillwave” release acclaimed records. Most notably, Toro Y Moi’s Beneath the Pine and Washed Out’s Within and Without have both been critical darlings, bringing further attention to a paradigm shift that has seemed to be going on for quite some time. Though guitar-driven music still dominates the mainstream, there have been artists outside the realm of popular music who place the synthesizer at the front of the mix. This sonic is a malleable one; though ‘80’s synth pop seems to be the usual point of comparison, shoegaze and dream pop also bear similarities. The common thread of those genres is the textural element; melodic lines and guitar riffs are most often used not as the driving force of the song but instead as another element to add to a dense conglomeration of synthetic sounds....full text |
| Staticmultimedia |
| Warm Ghost is a hard band to pin down. Frontman, Paul Duncan’s experimental (chillwave) songs consist of looping drum machines, unusually warm 80’s synths, and impenetrably vast but organic orchestrations of sound. The art-piece tracks trap the listener in a totally other world but they are recognizable enough to not alienate the open-minded listener. Duncan’s songs purposefully avoid normal pop song conventions and simultaneously steal familiar gothic, and pop elements. The genius is that even the elements are stolen are implemented in such a way as to not even point towards the original creator. Like T.S. Eliot, Duncan knows art is often the right combinations age old things. One of the easiest ways to picture Duncan’s new album, The Narrows, is as a performance on stage. The synths light up the sides and the background of the stage with blue and red; drum machines crawl mechanically through the middle; and, somewhere in the front Duncan’s ethereal chromatic voice seeps into the front of the amassed dark and romantic colors. With all of this the lyrics often go unnoticed, but close attention shows they too are well done. It’s hard to say how good this work actually is; or rather, it is difficult to find a framework on which to judge the merit of this music.  Like Radiohead, Duncan’s music attacks the concept of popular music and easily identifiable progressions of melody. Duncan is quoted as saying, “It’s all about making our music more challenging to the ear,” but there is more to his ghostly project than musical-aggression. It is about a duality between experiment and beauty. Between the inspirational chaos of the subconscious and the order of the conscious. One could even argue it’s a battle between the left and right brains. It’s not clear how all of the album comes together, but in a weird way it works. In works in the way that Picasso’s blue period works. The drab colors all fit together and wash out the world into a gothic interminable dusk. Along the way it’s a perilous but eventful ride and one could even say an adventure. Like all good pieces of art it has the potential to polarize, but for the most part this is a very engrossing album....full text |
| Potholesinmyblog |
| Alright, I’m bringing the gavel down – hard. I’m ruling that this modern strain of shoegaze/new-wave/indie/whatever is guilty of plagiarism, being boring, and influencing an entire generation of young people to adopt laziness and convenience. Perhaps the current generation of “indie”-obsessed youth was already lazy and boring, and perhaps those innate qualities allow them to latch onto that kind of music. Warm Ghost seem like nice enough guys, but they are #998287 in a long line of bands that keep pulling this same recycling stunt, and they do it here with their debut, Narrows. It’s because of albums like these that hipster kids aren’t picking up Talk Talk or Brian Eno albums, believing they’ve already heard enough quality music from Warm Ghost. They might even hear Talk Talk playing over the PA system in Urban Outfitters and say, “Wow, these guys are so ripping off Warm Ghost!” While this duo might be guilty of piling on the hazy synth layers and masquerading as Mark Hollis, Warm Ghost are capable of shining brightly through all that haze—the track and previous single, “G.T.W.S.” is structurally impressive and stylistically independent enough to be the album’s major standout. With the punchy percussion, seductive vocals, and slinky bassline, there’s something resembling passion and depth here. At the end of the day, the mere concept of musical homogeneity isn’t the most offensive thing—more to the point, bands simply need to write solid songs. If they had only followed whatever pure instinct that drives “G.T.W.S.” into decent song territory, we could have an impressive LP on our hands. Instead, Narrows passes at the speed of molasses, dragging its feet across nine long tracks with the repetitive structure of uninspired, woozy production, dramatic synths, and moaning vocals with indistinct melodies, making the album come off as second-rate Depeche Mode balladry. There are albums designed for reclining in your bed and staring at the ceiling, and then there are just plain tedious albums. Unfortunately, Narrows veers toward the latter, leaving the listener eager to dust off the old Talk Talk records and spend more time with the graceful master rather than the clumsy novice....full text |
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