United Ghosts take you back to the beautiful harmonies of Slowdive blended with the the discordant, psychedelic sound of The Stone Roses.
The LA-based act have recently stripped back to a duo from a full band, embracing the world of synths and studio based writing. Five-track EP ‘Dear Electic Sun’ is the first release from this bold, new adventure, and by god they have made the right decision. BBC DJ Lauren Laverne has similar initial thoughts, stating “I absolutely love this!”
If you like your tracks full of style and substance, with an underlying tone of quintessential English indie, United Ghosts are for you.
In this new ground, there is still the underlying, dizzying collection of influences on show from their debut album including shoegaze, psychedelia and krautrock but with it you get a new side to United Ghosts, an underlying light-grid of beats, synths and vintage drum machines.
This is evident on lead track ‘Out of Love’ built around a whizzing, pulsing synth loop, which makes you want to dash to the nearest dance floor or go for a epic run.
Next up is ‘Mind Flies Blind’ with its heavy-warm synth bass that kicks you where it hurts before the spiralling, baggy guitar lines and vocals in the chorus leave you yearning for a festival field to loose yourself in. Think Happy Mondays and Stone Roses lovechild.
‘All My Sisters’ is a glittering rainbow of synth-shimmer and motorik drum/guitar patterns transmitting a surge of positive energy which can’t help but put a smile on your face.‘Shine And Let Shine’ then turns a new corner on the record as it eases on the breaks to produce a more tribal and mantra-like United Ghosts.
The EP closes out with ‘No Tomorrow’, which has the ability to stop time temporarily and sees Sabi’s breathtaking vocals come to the fore, twinned with waves of mellotron-strings, piano and widescreen lyrical imagery. It’s certainly the most pop moment in the bands rise up the ranks so far and yet again new territory for this forward-thinking LA duo.
Watch the official video for lead EP track, Out Of Love, by United Ghosts, below.