[.ca] Ghost Tropic

Dangerous:
Hello, four stars are cautiously awarded this album following profuse internal debate and deliberation. Plus some appropriate liquors. You can't go around throwing five cartoon stars at damn near everything; you've got to use them sparingly. If you know Mr. Songs:Ohia, you've likely already had your shop beautifully wrecked by his mournful sounds. Perhaps you purposely seek such devistation, like me. Good job. Ghost Tropic does something different than prior Songs:Ohia albums, in that it possesses a conceptual flow from beginning to end, which requires the listener to give their undivided attention throughout the course of the album (for maximum effect). There may not be as many 'hits' on this one, but Ghost Tropic's overall arc and aftermath can be near overwhelming, should your ears and heart yield to it's singular naked emotion. Therefore, be careful when listening.

songs to weep to:
I'm not too familiar with the work of Songs:Ohia; this is the first album I've heard. maybe that affects my opinion differently from some of the other people reviewing the album here. anyhow, I found Ghost Tropic to be incredible. bleak, sparse, not-poppy--all of these descriptions apply, and in the best way possible.

a step backwards?:
As with every new Songs:Ohia record, the recording quality gets a little better and this one is no exception. A lot of the mix problems that bothered me about 'The Lioness' are fixed here, but I still don't think that makes this a better record. The songs here are super bleak and sparse and generally lack any sort of pop-song style format, i.e. verse-chorus-verse. Instead, the songs are each centered around a single riff that gets built upon to form an epic soundscape kind of like Godspeed You Black Emperor! or other similar bands. Of course, Songs:Ohia is a much, much thinner sounding band and doesn't employ even close to the amount of instrumentation that Godspeed...! uses. As I said before, I don't think this record outdoes the last one. Why? Well, the songs really don't hook me in like they have before. Of course, that may be the point of the style here, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. There are some really cool parts here and there that did intrigue me, but overall I found myself getting bored when the songs didn't go anywhere fast enough or peak quite as high as I would've liked. There's a lot less singing, too. Pretty much every song on here proceeds like a funeral dirge and ends in a fade-out. This is definitely not what I consider to be active listening music. While the album isn't bad, there is one major gripe I have about it. The first song has a totally cool harmonic guitar part, but the annoying percussion wrecks the whole piece for me. It sounds like bad salsa rhythms from an old casio combined with banging on pots and pans. It's played sloppy and doesn't fit very well. Some of the other songs have very similar problems and come close to being ruined. I'm not against the lo-fi aesthetic, but the songs really suffer here. Again, not terrible, but I prefer 'The Lioness'.

Meditative breath:
Largely due to similar vocal phrasing and a foundation of sparse, organic instrumentation, comparisons between Songs:Ohia's Jason Molina and Will Oldham will inevitably abound. However, rather than provide a lo-fi homage to perverse maladjustment, Molina furnishes a technicolour portrait of the more ethereal territory of spiritual wanderlust and saddened backward glances. As a result, Ghost Tropic is a liberating musical experience - carrying all the weight of worldly woes yet still achieving an exhilirating level of emotional transcendence.

Dissappointing:
I'm a big fan of Jason Molina's work, and this CD is definitely intriguing. There is a lot of very cool sounds on this album. But despite that, it's not very good. Previous Songs: Ohia projects went from being short, almost spastic snapshots of slanted lines and straightforward guitar parts. It wasn't eveyone's cup of tea, but it was pretty cool if you did like it. The last couple proper albums started fleshing out the songs more and, for the most part, the songs were good enough to really shine. But I think this record has pushed that same envelope beyond what these songs can take. As a result, this record is (intentionally) extremely sparse even though some of the arrangements are a bit complicated. The playing is very good all around too. But the songs are just not there. Jason sings infrequently, and when he does it with a deep, throaty voice that is not his most affecting. If this record were all instrumental and was released as a side project of Songs: Ohia, it'd be pretty cool. But as a full-length release from Songs: Ohia, it can be categorized as an interesting failure. Note: If you're already a fan of Songs: Ohia, don't let me stop you from buying this. There IS a lot of depth in this work, and some people love this record. Although I think it misses the mark most of the time, I can't blame Jason for trying some new and interesting things.

• Lightning Risked It All
• Body Burned Away
• No Limits on the Words
• Ghost Tropic
• Ocean's Nerves
• Not Just a Ghost's Heart
• Ghost Tropic
• Incantation