Round Black Ghosts
Line Up
(self-released)
Local rock band Round Black Ghosts shows some potential, but still has some rough edges to smooth out. Strengths include the cool band name — drawn from a nickname for 78 RPM records — nice album art for its second album, Line Up, and an alternative sound that should appeal to fans of multiple genres.
Lyrically, Round Black Ghosts tackles a wide range of subjects, from wolves and magic to robots. Though the topics and motifs aren’t especially common, the lyrics are infused with a lot of clichés, which draws away from the topics.
Though the band’s general style and instrumentation remain more or less consistent throughout Line Up, a lot of the songs seem heavily influenced by very different artists and genres. One of the album’s highlights, “Only Noise,” takes on dramatic qualities similar to The Arcade Fire, while the last track, “Drunks Don’t Start Revolutions,” has vocals that make it sound a bit like something in the screamo genre. The album’s first track, “City Lights,” even has faint hints of The Grateful Dead.
While variety can be good, the indecisiveness of Line Up doesn’t always work for Round Black Ghosts. It can be difficult for listeners to decide quite how they feel when such different elements enter each track.
Round Black Ghosts CD Release with Meeting of Important People and Kik & the Central Plains. 10 p.m. Sat., May 29. Thunderbird Café, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $5. 412-682-0177 or www.thunderbirdcafe.net
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 2, 2010.
I’d like to offer up my alternative review of Line Up;
Following on, both literally and figuratively from the 2009 album ‘Listen Loud’ the new album by Round Black Ghosts ‘Line Up’, sees the group expand their sound and move in new and interesting musical directions.
The album starts with a direct segue from the previous album. ‘Going to Hell (Line Up Intro)’, takes the musical theme that began and ended the ‘Listen Loud’ album and plays with it for less than a minute, before upping the intensity with the almost Dylanesque opening track ‘City Lights’. The production and arrangements announced in this track show a growing confidence and maturity from the band.
‘Thick As Thieves’ takes the energy down a tiny bit and sets the pace for the next few songs. The instrumentation of ‘Thick As Thieves’ reminded me in parts of Blur (circa ‘Chemical World’, which is a huge compliment in my book).
‘Wolf Song’ is probably my favourite song lyrically on the album. As I was listening to it I kept wanting to hear with Tom Waits or Nick Cave cover it (anyone in the band know their agents?).
‘Robots Teach Us’ was probably my favourite track musically. I loved the complexity of the arrangements, the addition of the mid-70’s Bowie sounding saxophone and horns really worked well.
‘Treehugger’ is a down-tempo, pastoral acoustic number, a pretty vignette, that left me wanting just a little bit more, but in a good way.
‘Only Noise’ picks the pace again and puts the album on course for the final track of the album, the anthem-antic ‘Drunks Don’t Start Revolutions’. I imagine this song is a great one to experience live in the presence of RBG fans, and hopefully one day soon the band will get a following big enough that I get to experience this song in the midst of an appreciative crowd.
The band have not succumbed to any sophomore slump with this album, they have showed a definite progression both in presentation and their comfort with different musical styles, all the while developing their own distinct sound. I look forward to seeing what the Round Black Ghosts have to offer us going forward.
I must say…..”I completely disagree!” Speaking as a participant of the Pittsburgh music scene,a fan of
Round Black Ghosts,and a former journalism student…..”Ms.Shea is completely incorrect in her review of RBG”s album “Line Up”.” This is one of the most creatively innovative albums to be released in the Pittsburgh area for far too many years to remember. Since it is the responsibility of the music critic to offer his/her opinion of an album,it SHOULD result in an educated, researched article. For Ms. Shea to compare a ballad such as “Drunks Don’t Start Revolutions” to screamo, tells the reader that not only is Shea unfamiliar with the screamo genre, but also that she didn’t listen to the album.(c’mon…my ten -year-old even knew the difference). Shea also makes this obvious by her statement of the relevancy of the lyrics to the subject matter(HELLO! the songs may have titles such as “Robots” and “Magic” but if she had taken the time to listen -or maybe to read the lyrics printed on the album cover, she would have realized that the titles aren’t literal!). It’s a shame that i will never trust the City Paper’s journalism ever again since they put their trust in half -assed interns to write reviews. Ms. Shea—my advice to you is to go back to journalism school and repeat a few semesters. Try harder next time,and better luck in the future. Sincerely, Pittsburgh music fan, Deb Lannon