I can speak from experience that if you make it habit of listening to every single MP3 that drops into your inbox, somehow the universe will always reward you with a little scuffed up gem like “Grand Illusion” by Guilty Ghosts. (Trust me, we try as hard as we can; if you don’t hear back from us about a track that you truly and honestly believe would be right up our alley, do not hesitate to give us a second poke). Each time I press play on this here email missive, I feel like I am being pulled straight into the delirious downward spiral in the opening credits of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, unable to resist the sinister end calling out to me from the mysterious smile of Carlotta Valdez. As though he were fundamentally oblivious to the laws of gravity, Brooklyn’s Tristan O’Donnell rests a heaving two-note monolith of melting guitar fudge atop the most paper-thin casio beat I have heard since I scored my first drum machine and tried to cover Le Tigre. No wonder the whole thing makes me feel like I’m plummeting downwards — and loving it every step of the way.
Guilty Ghosts, “Grand Illusions”
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Words: Emilie Friedlander
Tristan O’Donnell’s debut self-titled full-length is available for free download on the Guilty Ghosts Bandcamp. A limited edition of 100 CDs — numbered and packaged by Tristan himself — can be purchased via Big Cartel.
Tags: Guilty Ghosts, Tristan O'Donnel
I dig this. I dunno how I feel about the drum machine part although I guess it is a central focus, but this is a seriously spooked number.