Restless Ghosts

I've been meaning to plug Old Abram Brown's Restless Ghosts, since the band's lead singer used to be a library colleague before fleeing to pursue film and music at Emerson. The album was released last October, but I've only recently been able to purchase it through iTunes. It has more backbone than the first album, Alive in Winter, and has left enough of an impression to become playlist worthy in my iPod. If indie rock is your pleasure, give it a try.

Restless Ghosts is pretty solid from start to finish. The resonantly slow-paced "Your House on the Hill" (which for whatever reason puts me in mind of another album-opener, Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down"), the arresting melody of "Novelty Prize", the delightful guitar work on "Little Feet", the catchy beat (and lyrics) of "Mountain Lions" (a rework from the previous album), the frenetic rhythms of "Silhouette", the insistent keys behind "My Show", the soulful end-pieces, "The Good Man's Way" & "I'm Not Happy", all add up to a well crafted opus. "Tides" is the song where "restless ghosts" comes from, but has a chorus that sounds a bit too much like "Novelty Prize". When I hear the refrain, "And the tides are growing..." I'm already singing, "Could you stay the night..." Though I could have this the wrong way around depending on which was written first.

You can listen to segments of three songs on the band's website before purchasing the album here or downloading it from iTunes. Oh, and if you're wondering about the name "Old Abram Brown", it comes from a 19th-century hymn.

Favorite songs: "Your House on the Hill", "Novelty Prize", "Little Feet", "Mountain Lions".