John Ghost: Airships Are Organisms

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Rob Banken (as, bcl, f)
Elias Devoldere (d, mar, perc)
Jo De Geest (g)
Wim Segers (vib, mar)
Lieven Van Pée (b, g)
Karel Cuelenaere (p, ky, syn)

Label:

Sdban Ultra

October/2019

Media Format:

CD

Catalogue Number:

SDBANUCD11

RecordDate:

April 2018

Belgian group John Ghost, led by the Ghent-based guitarist and composer Jo De Geest, return with this cryptically-titled release, which slaloms through electronic grooves and dreamlike atmospheres. The opener, ‘Deconstructing Hymns’, starts above the clouds. Synthesised organ sounds and curious dissonances fill the stereo field, giving way to mesmeric percussion that lulls you into a false sense of security, before the jigsaw-puzzle grooves drop and De Geest and Banken take up a melody that slips and slides across the beat. Elsewhere things get heavier, ramped up by fizzing keyboards and gritty guitar. The melodies sometimes sound a little academic, veering into fiddly and forgettable territory, but for the most part it's a compelling listen. The final track, ‘Drones For A Sunken Mothership’, is superb. It opens in a sonic cathedral of bowed drones and medieval pipe organ before leaping forward through the centuries and gathering pace in one epic, masterfully-paced build, winding up in a state of strobing, clubland euphoria.

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