Here's another offbeat release from the folks at Edgetone Records, the very aptly named band Ghost In the House and their self-titled new album. To call this spooky avant-garde would be an understatement, as Ghost In the House do a great job here of conjuring up eerie & chilling soundcapes using a variety of instruments. At first, you might think a track like "Behhive Memory", with its haunting oboe from Kyle Bruckmann, is sort of a long lost song from fusion/World legends Oregon, but before you know it pieces like "Stormville" and "Knife in the Fog" come at you like a soundtrack to some demented horror movie. The band was conceived by filmmaker & musician David Michalak, who covers lap steel guitar (used to great effect here) and buffalo drum, and also featured on the album besides Bruckmann are Karen Stackpole (gongs, percussion) and Tom Nunn (crustacean, water phone, and other original inventions...yeah, I know). All the players are active on the avant-garde scene, and each contribute much to this project, especially Bruckmann, whose oboe and English horn bleats seem to pop in and out of the mix quite often, somtimes to jarring effect, adding a strong free-jazz feel to these seven tracks, especially on the complex "Cellar Dwellers". At times the pieces are fairly chaotic ("Narcolepsy" and "Loose Tongues"), but there's rarely a boring moment to be had. If you don't really require a ton of melody in your music, and can appreciate musicians who are not afraid to take risks, give this one a shot.
Track Listing
1) Beehive Memory
2) Narcolepsy
3) Stormville
4) Cellar Dwellers
5) Knife In the Fog
6) Loose Tongues
7) Dream #7
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