- Release date:
- July 8, 2008
- Artist/Band name:
- The Black Ghosts
- Record label:
- Iamsound
- Official Web Site:
- http://www.theblackghosts.co.uk/
Backstory: A dance-pop duo built from the ashes of former bands Simian (now Simian Mobile Disco) and the Wiseguys, the Black Ghosts are a new act that nevertheless feels like it fell out of the remixed ‘80s. And it’s got the rap sheet for it: vocalist Simon Lord and programmer Theo Keating grew up the sons of musical parents and inventors, and recall kindred electro-pop U.K. duos like Yaz and the Pet Shop Boys.
Why you should care: When they want to, the Black Ghosts can match instrumentation and mournful chant with the best of them. The poignant “Full Moon” and spiraling “Don’t Cry” stand out nicely as bleeding-heart treasures. But they could use more company, unless of course you are just looking for body-rocking radio pop; they can do that, too.
Verdict: With the type of digital thump that can keep the dance floor crowded, the Black Ghosts are nothing like their name implies. Sunny love jams like “Any Way You Choose to Give It” or orchestral maneuvers like “Some Way Through This” are Saturday night fever dreams. That said, Lord’s vocal range is beneath that of the Brothers Gibb and isn’t as distinctive as, say, the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, so he lacks the inner diva necessary for these type of club sonics. He manages nicely on the Steel Dan-flavored “It’s Your Touch” or the angular funk of “Until It Comes Again,” but as he sings on the aptly named “Repetition,” “The repetition kills you.” It does, indeed. The Black Ghosts’ capable debut could use more ambition and less body-rocking beats.
X-Factor: Keating’s father was an oboist with the London Symphony Orchestra who played on the Beatles’ seminal “A Day in the Life.”
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