Like a game of musical telephone, The Black Ghosts back and forthed hooks and ladders via email to whip up much of their debut full-length, self-titled album. Ghosts Simon Lord and Theo Keating lyrically cling to the subject of love, and then oppose its traditional message with a sinister sonic boom. The stories captured by the Ghosts are familiar, yet still deliver something fresh; most likely because no one called child protective services when these Ghosts were lads. Inspired by what can only be described as a left of center upbringing -- Keating was encouraged by his mum to stay up late watching the horror titles his godfather directed, while Lord perused Russian mysticism manuals with his psychic grandmother -- it's easy to see how the boys so deftly layer dark texture to beats and lyrics that are taken straight from the playbook of a power-pop-paramour. Numbers like opener "Some Way Through This," "Anyway You Choose It," and "I Want Nothing" provide powerful, forward-driving backing tracks and pert lyrics. But others like "Until It Comes," "It's Your Touch," and "Something New" seem like nicked throwaways from Justin Timberlake, Adam Levine or Robin Thicke -- extra crispy and over-moisturized. The Black Ghosts define their music as "perverse, personal pop." They're dead right.
--Tim Kelly [August 14, 2008]
