Within less than a year since their previous album Dan Matz and Jason McNeely return with Giving up the Ghost. Not dissimilar to 2004’s We Fight til Death,their latest album keeps to the typical gentle but pulsing rock sound.
Guitars and drums (both real and programmed) are backed up by a varietyof other instruments like harmonica, accordion and xylophone. Thelyrics sometimes feel clumsy, especially on the track “Empathy forPeople Unknown.” Once the song gets going the vocals do start to fitin, Matz’s thin, soft voice sits comfortably in the mix. Matz andMcNeely have always done repetition well and on Giving up the Ghostthey build up beautiful trance-like moods, despite the songs being muchshorter than usual. This more economic approach to songwritinggreatly improves the listening experience. On earlier albums the longersongswould end up making me reach for the skip button once they hadoutstayed their welcome. Instead of leaving me gagging for more, theyallowthe songs to breathe properly here. “The Front” is a goodexample of how the shorter length makes the song sound sweeter. Itis an instrumental track that builds up gently with acoustic guitar andfades out with half a minute or so of tinkering on a delay unit. Alonger length would have killed the song but as it stands it isterrific. Following straight afterwards is the album’s longest andweakest track: “Giving Up” is just boring, sounding like a jam that ismore entertaining for theperformer then the listener. At times Windsor for the Derby are likea multitude of bands at once: this album touches base with JoyDivision, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. Windsor never pushespast what these bands have done but most of the time they do not bringdisgrace to those who went before. “Praise” could havebeen accidentally discarded by Kevin Shields while “Gathering” could besomething from Joy Division’s demo days but with better lyrics.The faster-paced songs on Giving up the Ghost are what make itworth listening to. “The Light is on” along with the aforementioned“Praise” are possibly the two of the best bits of the album, both stompalong (well as much as Windsor for the Derby can ever be said to stomp)and show the band at their best. The female backing vocals at the endof “The Light is on” are blissful. The album closes with “Every WordYou Ever Said,” a delicate and moving song that finishes off the discperfectly. It reminds me of Dan Matz at his prime (the stunning CD hedid with Michael Gira). Giving up the Ghost may not be the bestalbum this year but it does provide 35 minutes of examples of whatmainstream rock should sound like if there was any justice.
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