Ghost is Dancing
(Sonic Unyon)
With the opening salvo of Battles On, The Ghost is Dancing's second album, the battle is indeed engaged. A parade-ground drum tattoo leads to a swirling keyboard figure, propelling "Dream of a Failed Architect" onto the front lines. Such martial moments recall the golden age of Celtic combat-rock (U2's War, just about anything by the Alarm).
You might also compare The Ghost to the Arcade Fire, and not just because both are Canadian. The Toronto sextet shows a similar relish for the dramatic, as well as a kindred taste for augmenting beefed-up folk-rock with chamber-classical timbres. A trumpet fanfare provides the coda to "Rogues and Heroes," and piano and strings open "Stick Together," which builds from old-fashioned ditty to power ballad (boosted again by trumpet).
Yet Battles On is more frisky than ponderous, because the songs are compact, the melodies are bright and female singer Lesley Davies is more attuned to nursery rhymes than operatic arias. Her voice sets the tone for the half-twee, half-epic title track, while her tiny "uh-uh-uhs" bring a glimmer of "O Superman" minimalism to the grandiose "Flashing Pictures." A "na-na-na" chorus propels "This Thunder," one of the album's standouts, and such agreeably breezy touches abound. Whatever this war is about, it's not all that serious.
Standout Tracks: "This Thunder," "Battles On" MARK JENKINS
