Brendan Eyre lives and records in Hartlepool, UK and his debut independent release, Ghost Ships tackles some big issues in the themes and inspiration on this totally instrumental CD. The ghost ships mentioned are actually a hot topic in this seaside town, which is trying to prevent a shipping company from disposing of thirteen so called ghost ships, which used to belong to the US Maritime Administration, moored in Hartlepool waiting to be dismantled. The problem is Hartlepool has the highest rate of cancer in all of England and disposing of these ships will undoubtedly lead to more contamination and hazardous waste, turning the town into a virtual dumping ground.
Eyre handles all the instrumentation on this disc, which is primarily electronic and synthetic in nature, with the exception of some acoustic guitar and a couple of very nice piano pieces. In fact I found quite a few of the tracks seemed to be influenced by one of Eyre's fellow countryman and another multi instrumentalist, Mike Oldfield. There is a stark and haunting feeling permeating throughout, yet there are also moments of pure joy and introspective reflection as well. The opening number "Mount Grace" comes off as symphonic and almost hymn like, while the two part "Trinity / Aftermath" works best because of it's simplistic beauty. "Lamplight Glows" returns to a bit of the symphonic sounds that opened the disc, but the two tracks that really stood out were the ones which featured Eyre's fantastic and light touch on solo piano on both "Autumn" and "Remembered", tracks in which he adds just the right amount of backing keyboards to layer the sound and create just the right atmosphere, delivering lush and rich results. I have played Ghost Ships at least a dozen times so far from beginning to end and I seem to find something different with each listen, perhaps some little nuance missed or a well placed note I didn't catch during previous listens. Although it clocks in at just over thirty minutes, Eyre has used the time wisely, delivers the goods and has created a disc which yields many rich rewards for the listener, what more can you ask for?
Eyre is in the process of finalizing distribution details for Ghost Ships so if you have trouble finding it, you can e-mail him personally at brendan.eyre@tesco.net to order your copy.
Track Listing
1) Mount Grace
2) Pandemonium Seesaw
3) Autumn
4 a) Trinity
b) Aftermath
5) Lamplight Glows
6) Cradle The Wind
7) Remembered
8) Ghost Ships
9) End Peace
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