Sweden's James Augur sports a bearded lumberjack look and seems ready for harsh weather with his chunky sweater and beanie hat.
The choral Intro and the introspective single, Sinner in Rapture, appear to indicate that dark themes will dominate his debut full-length album as he sings with quiet desperation of "holding on by the skin".
But then the mood switches for the lighter Outside the Window and by the time we get to Southwest of the Moon he is cheered up by leaves swaying in the breeze and gives the impression of being completely at ease with his surroundings.
"I am just a man who walks about town without a home" he sings on The Days Fade Quicker and although the lyrics to his melodic tunes refer constantly to loneliness and isolation, you don't sense that this causes him too much grief. Indeed, Better Off Alone implies that social distancing is something to welcome.
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Declaring a diverse range of influences from Scandinavian forests to Kurt Cobain, this is a record that struggles to find the right pitch between these two extremes.
A Choir of Ghosts' website
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