Although the likes of Fleet Foxes are rightly gaining many of the plaudits just now, there's clearly a lot of diversity percolating in their Seattle hinterland right now. Take OLD GHOST. Less celebrated, perhaps, but no less vital. Their EP 'Hearts & Coffins' is one of the best Americana-tinged items your reviewer has clapped earlobes on in recent times.
One of those few outfits where both a whole lotta soul and a level of virtuosity walk hand in hand, Old Ghost are a real treat. 'Hearts & Coffins' features five tracks and all of 'em are enormously impressive. Opener 'Black Crow' rolls along beautifully, steeped in mystery and sounding like a glorious amalgam of Calexico and The Clash circa 'Jimmy Jazz'. The musical touches are fantastic, not least Ray Taylor's bleeding Hammond organ and Zach Erb's keening violin. Frontman Paul Hutzler is excellent too. Vocally, he's like a magnificent and unholy alliance of Iggy, Bob Dylan and Vic Chesnutt and he sings like he's got one eye on salvation and the other on the Grim Reaper beckoning to him from over the hill. Yeah, that good. Really.
The rest of the EP singularly fails to disappoint either. Songs like 'Home Is Where You Find It' and 'Put My Watch Away' are graceful on the surface, but both drag darker undercurrents in their wake. The former recalls the Tindersticks' string-driven stateliness and is further embroidered by Handsome Family collaborator Steve Dorocke's lonely tumbleweed pedal steel, while 'Put My Watch Away' is subtle, seductive and simply glorious.
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They're surrounded by stiff competition, but 'Wherever You Are' and the closing 'I Saw The Light' are arguably better still. Built around dreamy vibrato guitar figures and Hutzler's charismatic vocals, 'Wherever You Are' is a blues-y creep par excellence with the suggestive lyrics supplying the EP'S title (“there's hearts and coffins – which one you wanna fill?”) while the closing 'I Saw The Light' finds Old Ghost instilling the old Hank Williams number with clammy and memorable noir-ish twists of their own. Once again, Hutzler's grainy and descriptive voice stars while the lyrics find temptation's devils and redemption's angels slugging it out to the bitter end.
It's a show-stopping finale to a vividly fine EP and suggests Old Ghost are one spectre you'll encourage to haunt your dreams for the duration.
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