Funny story: Chicago’s quartet of weirdos Touched By Ghoul recorded their sophomore album Cancel The World at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio in July 2019 with the title already in place. They mixed it in January 2020, and then the world was actually cancelled. After idling for months, the album was sent for pressing the vinyl to support tour dates. Tours were again cancelled. And, the pressing plant’s press was broken. Cancelled.
Of course, everyone’s been through the wringer over the past couple of years, and some much more severe than this. But, Cancel The World may just be the forbidden music so many artists have sought to make. Ironically, the album finds the band taming its aggressive Birthday Party / Babes In Toyland noiserock attack ever so slightly in order to embrace melodies and allow their tousled cynicism to truly shine on songs like ‘Better Than Me’, ‘Lost At The Costco’ and the title track.
Of the album, vocalist and guitarist Angela Mullenhour says: “Cancel the World was a concept that was initially a joke in like 2017 — a colloquialism to replace “f*ck it”. The subsequent record we made ended up being part love letter, part divorce record to the whole big messy world, turning annoyingly prophetic when the pandemic literally cancelled the world and delayed the release.”
Touched By Ghoul is fronted by former Sybris singer/guitarist Angela Mullenhour, along with guitarist Andrea Bauer and the rollicking rhythm section of bassist Alex Shumard and drummer Paige Sandlin. The intrepid group made its debut with 2016’s Murder Circus album (also on Chicago imprint Under Road Records) and for a while things were going pretty great pre-pandemic: TBG played some awesome shows (supporting Foo Fighters at Wrigley Field, MC50, Local H), received great press and built up a small army of zombified followers.
At last, with nothing more than this album on the horizon for the time being, Touched By Ghoul are here to undo whatever star-crossed curse they’ve brought unto the world, one gloriously weird, catchy song at a time. Cancel The World will be available on LP, download and streaming on December 3rd, 2021 via Under Road Records, and can be pre-ordered here.
