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EXCLUSIVE NEW DOWNLOAD: Ghost Society - Love Love & Twisted Mind (featuring Jonas Bjerre)
Written by Hillary Kaylor
Tags: pop, synth, prog
Hands down, Ghost Society’s “Love Love” is my favorite of the week. Maybe girls flock to certain things. Shiny things, expensive things. Watery vocals and Danish synths and songs that carve a breathy brushstroke, things. This music is the soundtrack for that dream where you’re flying, soaring over mountaintops on a pair of silvery wings. Jonas Bjerre, the ethereal frontman of Mew, leads the second track—“Twisted Mind”—out of the enchanted forest and up into the clouds. If you’re into that kind of thing, you're really into that kind of thing, and you’ll be singing along in your sleep. - Hillary Kaylor
Ghost Society Musikhuset Århus, Rytmisk Sal, Friday
Ghost Society are made up from members of four different bands: People Press Play, Blue Foundation, Choir of Young Believers and Lake Placid. Their music is a mixture of shoegaze/noise-pop and gloomy rock along the lines of Cure’s legacy and enhanced by Tobias Wilner and Sara Savery taking turns on the vocals. Their Friday night show didn’t come without some weak and tedious moments. Nonetheless, Ghost Society’s great strength - their truly beautiful compositions – don’t go unnoticed and hint at some great potential. Let’s see what the future holds for them. - Vasilis Panagiotopoulos
Ghost Society made their U.S. live debut at Brooklyn’s Littlefield on Sunday. Even with half of the band having just arrived from Copenhagen a few hours earlier and suffering from sleep deprivation, the Danish indie rockers still managed to smoothly sail through a fairly upbeat set with only a few minor sound glitches.
With swirling guitars, whispery vocals and pleasant harmonies, the band’s songs recall the 1990s, especially My Bloody Valentine and The Swirlies, whose song, “Jeremy Parker,” was covered in the set. Also included were “Under The Sun” and the Pixies-influenced “Love Love.” The band ended the show on a positive note with perky new single, “Better Days.”
The debut album, The Back of His Hands, Then The Palms, was released in Denmark in January (a U.S. release is in the works), and the single “Better Days” was released here last week. Ghost Society will have two more appearances in New York, at Union Pool (Brooklyn) today and Lit Lounge on March 24, followed by shows in Syracuse, NY and Northampton, MA as well.
ghostsociety2
Ghost Society features Tobias Wilner on guitar and Sara Savery on bass, and the two also share lead vocals. Both are well known in Europe for their various other projects, including solo and film work and the bands Blue Foundation and People Press Play. The band also includes drummer Lasse Herbst, who contributes backing vocals as well (with lovely harmonies on “Recognize”), and guitarist Frederik Sølberg.
The opening acts were Bichi (Wilner’s downtempo experimental electronica project) and Brooklyn band Telltale, whose interpretation of shoegaze is a bit more droney and psychedelic, with a definite Jesus & Mary Chain bent. –Teresa Sampson, Photos by Teresa Sampson - sentimentalistmag
From Scandinavia comes yet another delight for the shoegaze and dream-pop sets. With shimmery songs that bear the influence of My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies (and even a cover of The Swirlies) and an ethereal mix of synths and guitars with male and female vocals, Ghost Society is already generating a buzz stateside from the likes of AOL Spinner and RCRDLBL.
The Copenhagen-based band features Sara Savery (of People Press Play) and Tobias Wilner (Bichi and Blue Foundation, the latter known in the U.S. for songs on the Twilight and Miami Vice soundtracks as well as for a collaboration with Mark Kozelek). Savery and Wilner, who are married to each other, are the main songwriters and share lead vocals. The band’s line-up is completed by guitarist Frederik Sølberg, formerly of the band Lake Placid and also an accomplished director/video artist, and drummer Lasse Herbst who has worked with Choir of Young Believers.
The debut album, The Back of His Hands, Then The Palms, was released to critical acclaim in Denmark in January and includes a guest appearance by Jonas Bjerre (of Mew). Plans for a U.S. release of the album are still in the works, and a single “Better Days” is out today. The cover art for the single is a photograph of young Liam McMullan, now a New York scenester, and his artist mother, Laurie Ogle. - sentimentalistmag
Discography
EP - Dogs and Desperation 2009
Single - Better Days 2009 (USA)
Album - The Back of his hands, then the palms (debut album. will be released 2011 by Minty Fresh)
Photos
Bio
// GHOST SOCIETY
From Scandinavia comes yet another delight for the shoegaze and dream-pop sets. With shimmery songs that bear the influence of My Bloody Valentine, Neil Young, and The Pixies (and even a cover of there good friends from The Swirlies) and an ethereal mix of synths and guitars with male and female vocals, Ghost Society is already generating a buzz stateside from the likes of AOL Spinner, Sentimentalist Magazine, CMJ.com and RCRDLBL.
"oh my god. this music is astonishing, beautiful, nearly perfect." (M. Kramer producer of Lou Reed, Yo La Tengo, Galaxie 500, Daniel Johnston, Will Oldham, Moe Tucker....)
“Their music is a mixture of shoegaze/noise-pop and gloomy rock along the lines of Cure’s legacy.” –Clash Music.com
“This music is the soundtrack for that dream where you’re flying, soaring over mountaintops on a pair of silvery wings.” –RCRD LBL
this is GHOST SOCIETY, all splendor veiled in poetic noise,
beauty and beautiful songs, of love and hope, on filthy streets.
You must get your hands on this remarkable music,
and would you be so lucky to have but a slight chance to see them live,
you know what to do!
- Jonas Bjerre, Mew
“From Scandinavia comes yet another delight for the shoegaze and dream-pop sets. With shimmery songs that bear the influence of My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies (and even a cover of The Swirlies) and an ethereal mix of synths and guitars with male and female vocals, Ghost Society is already generating a buzz stateside from the likes of AOL Spinner and RCRDLBL.” (Sentimentalist).
The Copenhagen-based band features Sara Savery (of People Press Play) and Tobias Wilner (Bichi and Blue Foundation, the latter known in the U.S. for songs on the Twilight and Miami Vice soundtracks as well as for a collaboration with Mark Kozelek). Savery and Wilner, who are married to each other, are the main songwriters and share lead vocals.
The forthcoming debut album, The Back of His Hands, Then The Palms, was released to critical acclaim in Denmark and Japan in 2010 and includes a guest appearance by Jonas Bjerre (of Mew).
Plans for a U.S. and UK release of the album are still in the works. But U.S. & U.K. release is planned to be in January 2011 on Minty Fresh(U.S) and JackToPhono(U.K).
A single “Better Days” has been released in U.S.
The cover art for the single is a photograph of young Liam McMullan, now a New York scenester, and his artist mother, Laurie Ogle.
// The very talented songwriter, producer and vocalist Sara Savery has her history in the band People Press Play (Morr Music).
Quotes about here vocal:
Entertainment Weekly EW.com
"Savery's high, dreamy vocals complement this track's sparkling beats perfectly."(Simon Vozick-Levinson)
Prefixmag
"...to share her world with the listener, and they are inviting moments of repeated pleasure"
"with Savery endlessly lamenting "There's a road that curls before me." It hints at a universal moment, one that begs to be shared." (Brian Reid)
Hero Hill
"Sara’s hushed vocals add just the right energy to the lush tapestry of sounds that slowly engulfs you"
www.herohill.com
Tiny Mix Tapes
"Her voice is essentially used as its own instrument, taking the lead when the opportunity arises and providing atmospheric cooing whenever the mood dictates so. Doesn't that just sound lovely? Believe me, it is. People Press Play’s eponymous debut is a clear standout on a label of quality and deserves all the fawning press it can and should receive." (Alan Ranta)
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/
SomeVelvetBlog
"The result is sweet and synthy and catchy, a blending of "warm, intricate electronics with shoegaze-informed dynamics."
http://somevelvetblog.blogspot.com/
DE:BUG
"When she sings it's a nonchalant ease on sparkling clear melodies. here's a lot of intimacy in her voice..... (Hendrik Lakeberg)
Hybrid Magazine
"...a fantastic combination of the velvety vocals of Savery and the subtle," (Liger Woods)
The band will do an exclusive concert on American Museum of Natural History NYC the 4th of November 2010.
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