Posted on: July 28, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Earfarm – “…their new project flies on its own accord on the strength of literate vocals with a sweetly falsetto delivery (imagine David Byrne on helium?) and wonderfully busy drums that recall the awesomeness of the Dodos’ Logan Kroeber’s inimitable style. Groovily paranoid? Paranoia with grooves? Works both ways really.”

Pop Tarts Suck Toasted – “This duo is definitely making their own mark on the New York scene. With sweet vocals and awesome stuttering drums the band makes an immediate impact with very little going on onstage. It’s simple, it’s awesome, you should start listening.”

Impose Magazine – “…spare, evocative pieces for rambling keys and crisp drums.”

The Deli – “A cool band you should check out: Glass Ghost….their sparse, intimate, intense and intriguing atmospheres might conquer you (and your date?)”

The Fmly – “It’s the magic of falsetto, emotionally evocative keyboard and a one man african drum group that initially caught my ear…”

It’s not surprising to learn that Eliot wrote his first piano tune about a plumbing accident at age six, or that Mike started taking drumming lessons from jazz masters at an early age,and that they’ve performed in funk, hip-hop, jazz, Haitian, and R&B groups.

Since their fateful meeting in 2001 at a wedding gig in Boston, they’ve found themselves playing for kids at community centers and high schools, real estate agents and lawyers at parties, department store shoppers, and ex-cons at a college. In 2004, after the demise of their ambitious, but ill-fated, jazz band Best of Boston, the two rejoined forces as part of the New York outfit Flying.

With Flying they recorded ‘Faces of the Night’ and toured the US for two years. Following the dissolution of Flying, Mike and Eliot found they could make big sounds on their own. Excited about the freedom and space they had to work with as a two-man group, they quickly began work on what would become Idol Omen. Though they’ve been compared to other keyboard and drum duos like The Silver Apples, their minimalism, use of space, and unearthly vibes are more akin to the work and spirit of artists like Arthur Russell, This Heat, and J. Dilla.

Glass Ghost represents the birth of a new musical force distilled from myriad influences, from J. Dilla to Deerhoof. The result is something completely refreshing, and fittingly, a little scary. It’s the pairing of Eliot Krimsky’s fragile and haunting falsetto with the group’s bottom-heavy, hip-hop influenced rhythm section that yields the crystalline world propelled by Mike Johnson’s ass-shakin’ beats found on their debut Idol Omen.

The unique world they’ve crafted serves as the perfect vehicle for the album’s paranoid narrative, loosely following the metamorphosis of a modern businessman into some mysterious new form.

The arc of Idol Omen’s tale is revealed in fragments as the detached protagonist wanders, observes, and occasionally interacts, with his surreal, often threatening, environment. While fear, anxiety and delusion effervesce from tracks like “Mechanical Life” and “The Same” the album ebbs and flows from frenzied to fatigued. Alternately, the beautiful and unforgettable “Like a Diamond” invokes reflections of resolute melancholy, while “Divisions” holds listeners captive in the bizarre images of a fever dream. The final track “Ending” provides a sense of release, as an unexplained confluence of events triggers the central character’s eventual mutation and transcendence.

US TOUR DATES

Jul 28 – SPACE GALLERY w/ Robert Stillman’s Horses, Lewis and Clarke Portland ME
Aug 2 – Bruar Falls w/ Supper and Paul Damian Hogan the 3rd(Francis) – Brooklyn NY
Sep 14 – Middle East Downstairs w/ Deerhoof – Boston MA

Tracklisting

Time Saving Trick
Mechanical Life
Divisions
The Same
Like A Dimond
Violence
What I’ve Seen
Ending

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