With so much music being released, having a full time job and having tasks to fill any available gaps, music can sometimes need to have a special spark to get the writing juices flowing. Sheffield art rock band New Ghost have provided that spark and more with their newest release A Dagger In Every Tide. After listening to the nine tracks a few times I found I was going about the rest of my day and discovering their shoegaze drenched sounds hooked into my mind which I was tunelessly recreating without much thought.
A Dagger In Every Tide is a stirring journey through a near death experience which absorbs shoegaze, indie, dream pop and experimental rock. The moment that really grabbed me and convinced me that I had to express myself with some words was mid song ‘Viscera’. It strikes me as one of those perfect cinematic songs that if placed correctly in a film or TV show it would propel the band to an audience the song writing deserves. The build and execution of the vocal melodies is utterly spellbinding and I know it’s a song that I will revisit for years to come, and it’s not the only one on the album that had that effect.
The warming glow of the shoegaze one two in ‘Cherry Violence’ and ‘Over’ hits like the sun on a winter’s day, there is an undercurrent of cold but the warm light elevates everything bringing a nice warmth to the sink and bones. That is a similar theme throughout which reflects the situation of the album’s creation and it spills over in a mute joy rather than a sulking darkness. The grit is still there, there is a weightiness but also elation and tracks such as ‘Red & Blue’ and ‘Wayfarer’ play this out through more of a dream pop feel with some synth sounds swapped in for the guitar drenched shoegaze.
Band member Chris Anderson is well known around these parts as his previous band Firesuite receiving numerous glowing reviews. New Ghost looks to be continuing to show off the skilled song writing abilities with a stunning group effort and A Dagger In Every Tide is a delicious combination of reverb drenched guitars, haunting vocal melodies and a gallon of ideas that are distilled and aligned beautifully. If there is an ounce of you that likes shoegaze then New Ghost will serve you something you will want to return to with A Dagger In Every Tide.
