Heave Media

Holy Ghost! Worships The Dance Floor

Precise beats set Holy Ghost! apart from the disco masses.

Holy Ghost!

Static On The Wire EP

Released on May 18, 2010

As any rapper worth their salt can tell you, it’s hard out there for a pimp. In my opinion though, it’s harder out there for a Brooklyn dance duo. I’ve mentioned this before, but it seems like electro-disco-dance-pop (insert any other booty-shaking genre) duo are a dime a dozen these days. Luckily for Holy Ghost!, they’ve got James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem on their side (as they are both signed to his label and currently touring with LCD) and the ability to make disco sound both cool and original.

I mention that the duo produces “precise beats,” and that’s a terribly vague way of saying “they don’t sound like they took ecstasy before mixing the album.” They don’t seem to be concerned with using every effect on their synths, so the overall sound is a very clean, yet still entirely energetic and danceable one. The first (and title) track of the album starts out with a simple enough beat that grows as each effect is added, but perhaps the nicest surprise are the great vocals. I actually like the guy’s voice! It’s the combination of well-developed tracks and solid vocals that bode well for the rest of the album.

I couldn’t help but diagnose the duo with the “LCD Syndrome,” but in this case, it works to their advantage. Stating that they have the “LCD Syndrome” is just my way of saying that Holy Ghost! writes long songs. The four-song EP clocks in at approximately 25 minutes, which is fairly lengthy. However, the length offers an interesting contrast to other, more frantic dance duos. Holy Ghost! certainly doesn’t subscribe to the ideology of short song = catchy, danceable song. If anything, at least you won’t have to worry about shuffling your music choices as much at your next dance party.

The band definitely has a good understanding of the sound they want to promote, so the EP has few weak moments on it. One of those weak moments though is “Say My Name.” While a good amount of energy and interest resides smack in the middle of the song, it’s otherwise boring. The last two minutes sound like they just want to try and see how long they can sustain certain sounds, and there’s nothing entertaining about that.

Redemption comes in the form of the final track, “I Know I Hear.” It boasts both an interesting introduction and a fun musical flashback (at least for me). Listen at around 2:45 — don’t the vocals sound like the “come on, shake your body baby, do the conga” part of “Conga” by Miami Sound Machine? Feel free to disagree, but if Holy Ghost! can make me conjure up Gloria Estefan, it’s safe to say that they’ve got a more developed and varied sound than most. It’s because of that — and their non-frantic interpretation of disco beats — that their EP is worth a listen or two.

Posted by Alyssa Vincent on May 27, 2010 @ 9:15 am