Review: Ghost Box Orchestra - High Plaine

Ghost Box Orchestra are the masters of hazy, fuzzed out soundscapes. Their last album proper, 'Vanished', was a shimmering, sun-baked affair which combined a western vibe with eastern influences. Their new album 'High Plaine', released by Evil Hoodoo takes the same template, but adds something new. Honed by a year of pretty much continuous gigging, the band has evolved its sound and come up with a real belter of an album.

Opener 'Flutter' opens with some organ straight out of church and a thudding beat before it all opens out into a real high energy stormer with attitude and menace. The organ is a mainstay throughout the track, playing a repetitive refrain which gives the track an hypnotic property, but for me it's the guitars that are the highlight....this is not the blissed out version of Ghost Box Orchestra but the hard rockin', psyched out one....cracking stuff. Title track 'High Plaine' sees the band return to their western roots...it captures that same essence of aridity that The Myrrors have used to great effect. The vocals are echoey and yet strident and the ever-present organ drives the fuzzed guitars onwards. 'Socrates Burned' is another psyched out belter complete with dense, fuzzy guitar and organ again setting up a repetitive melody....the tempo is set high, and so is the bar...one of my fave tracks of this year! 'Wave Goodbye' foregoes the heaviness for a more atmospheric vibe. The guitars swirl about like a welcome breeze in the still desert; it has a soundscape quality, conjuring visions of sun-baked vistas. 'Dead and Gone' takes the western vibe baton and runs with it. Another track that surges forward with fuzzy guitars and plenty of delay and reverb. The treated vocals are mainly hazy in the background but come to the fore occasionally in a flurry of echo. 'Days Are Forever' is another wonderfully atmospheric piece with drawling, sprawling guitars and a stomping rhythm. The vocals are again spaced out and down in the mix giving more space for the fuzz and the power to shine through. 'Within the Sound' starts with a heavy psych riff before being joined by the echoey vox. This track has a more sedate tempo, relying more on rock solid drums and some wonderful guitar work. The album is closed by the eight minute 'Causality Devotional', a long, rambling track that rises and falls. It has a shoegaze vibe about it, the way that the iridescent guitars shimmer and shine within a haze of languid luxury. A more than suitable manner in which to close the album.

'High Plaines' is a wonderful album....the band have evolved since 'Vanish' and the 'Sound of (Eternal Now)' EP, with vocals being now a mainstay of their output, rather than the more instrumental output of yore...but this is no bad thing, indeed it adds another element to their performance. The whole album is enveloped in a distinct atmosphere of the desert; a sun-bleached aridity that brings forth visions of the Sierra Nevada. There is nothing arid about the music itself however, it is rich and dense in places, full of vim and vigour when it needs to be and yet retains a blissed out vibe at times. An album of the upmost quality. It is available from Evil Hoodoo (strictly limited vinyl numbers so get in quick, but also available on CD and cassette). In the US, it is available from the band's Bandcamp page here.