Aaron Mulian and Dave Mies from New York City are long-time friends who formed Tall Firs in 1990. Over the course of 25 years they haven't exactly been prolific so this is only their fourth full length release.
It is described as being "more sonically expansive" than their previous releases. A less minimalist approach is due to the ensemble of players who accompany and improvise takes so as to add to the bare bones of the ten songs which are all written by Mies.
Contributors include members of the Thurston Moore Band, Jackie-O-Motherfucker and Sparklehorse. Samara Lubelski is probably the most significant of these guest musicians. Her accomplished violin playing adds to the already melancholy feel of the tracks.
Mies' downbeat growl lend a fairly dirgey, introspective quality to tunes which are intended as "tender letters addressed to friends and lovers". Since these generally maintain a lethargic beat this is not an album which contains much joie de vivre.
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Instead a slow bluesy pattern emerges and pervades love songs like Winter Wind and Panic Dreams. The former is dedicated to Mies' wife and, in it, he reveals "I'm in love with pining on".
Ghostlight, the track which also gives the album its title, is inspired by the subdued theatrical illumination which is designed to prevent any late night visitors falling into the orchestral pit.
It serves as an ideal metaphor for a record with a distinctly spectral mood and a gloomy, nocturnal aspect.
Tall Firs website
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