The feeling of disconnection with one’s self must be an altogether common one. There’s something slightly chilling about stumbling across an aspect of your past that seems so utterly alien to everything you thought you stood for that words couldn’t really do it justice – and usually it’s the small things, the minute differences, that do it the worst. Most people trying to sweep them under the carpet – the awkward MySpace bulletins half-forgotten, the Facebook groups swiftly deleted, the plots and plans binned quicker than that they were envisaged.
Ghost Outfit clearly don’t agree with this erasing of history, as shown by the fact that the largest volume of their work available online comes in the form on an EP that they themselves seem completely lukewarm towards. Being nonplussed is perhaps the strongest reaction one could have to their Forest Shout EP – a bland, slightly jangly, wishy-washy contradiction of ideals that falls flat very quickly. Place that alongside the other songs they’ve got available on their bandcamp, and it could almost be a practical joke. The EP showcases an insipid mate’s-band kind of tunefulness, a kind of sparkling beige – whilst the two other efforts are everything you’d want from a two piece – occasionally angry, always fuzzy, at times incomprehensible but consistently engaging. Comprised of cut ups of prior self-recordings, it’s tempting to call them ‘mash-ups’ but it’s doubtful that Glee-style parlance could really apply to this kind of weirdo noise pop. A lot of other bands would’ve settled for a name change, but Ghost outfit seem keen to use the mundanity of their past life to transform them to greater glory. If the original cuts are anywhere near as good as these collages, long may it continue.
[bandcamp]
