A mainstay in the Midwestern indie circles for most of the last decade, Ghosty puts on a masterful display of avant-pop songcraft. Andrew Connor’s mercurial song structures are brought to life by his vocal harmonies and guitar interplay with Jake Blanton, while David Wetzel’s keyboard textures, Nolte’s rich bass lines and Adams’ complex counterpoints give the album a resounding depth. It’s intelligent, slightly askew pop that compares favorably to Field Music or Rogue Wave in its catchiness and unexpected complexity. The band’s second full length, Answers, is out on Oxblood Records in a week.
Their debut full-length, Grow Up Or Sleep In, introduced Ghosty to the world, with its hooks as big as the open prairie skies. With the a strong group of pop songs filtered through folk, prog, and jazz influences, the album earned critical praise from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Mojo, Newsweek, NPR.org and The Onion’s AV Club, which named it one of their top releases of 2005. Recorded by Saddle Creek’s Mike Mogis at Presto Studio in Lincoln, Nebraska and Trent Bell at his Bell Labs studios in Norman, Oklahoma, Grow Up Or Sleep In also features an offbeat vocal appearance by Wayne Coyne, who the band met at the studio and backed up on a track for the Flaming Lips Ego Tripping At The Gates of Hell EP.
The past two years have seen the individual members of Ghosty making strides the music business. Frontman Andrew Connor backed up Domino recording artist Benjy Ferree on tour, while bassist Mike Nolte engineered sound for Rogue Wave and Dr. Dog on national tours. Guitarist Jake Blanton filled in as touring keyboardist for British pop singer Sia, and drummer Josh Adams’ work with avant-jazz group Snuff Jazz even led to a gig at a Brooklyn bacchanal held to conjure the Mayan patron saint of vice.
Previous Praise for Ghosty:
4 Stars– Andrew Connor’s songs are finely wrought with bright, bouyant melodies over intricate, shifting structures that slip-slide around like the missing link between Emmitt Rhodes and Pavement.
– Mike Barnes, MOJO
It may only be rock ‘n’ roll, but Ghosty, the Appleseed Cast, the New Amsterdams, and other young bands are playing it with such virtuosity that Lawrence is perhams the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver.
– The New York Times
With a fully fledged sound that layers instruments galore and pays tribute to the sixties Wilson Beach Boys and other California elements, Ghosty share a retronuevo sense with the Coral and the Earlies, a celebration tinged with irony, of those halcyon days.
– 8/10, Americana UK