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Within the broad church of ‘rock’ or ‘alternative’ and its many offshoots – it remains a minor thrill to stumble across a group who seem to exist at a slight tangent to everything else.
Crumbling Ghost is one such anomaly and an irresistible one at that: a group who feel less like a discovery than a secret belatedly shared. Their new album ‘Four’ set for release on 7th August (New Heavy Sounds) was announced last month.
Crumbling Ghost are not newcomers. They’ve been operating for some time, releasing records sporadically, Four’ is in fact their fourth release. Along the way they’ve accumulated a fervent coterie of followers, not to mention the occasional nod of approval from tastemakers such as Stuart Maconie, Stewart Lee and Tom Ravenscroft. And though they’ve appeared at Roadburn, shared stages with Hawkwind and even Damo Suzuki, they remain (possibly by design) curiously under‑the‑radar. That might change with the quite wonderful ‘Four’.
The group’s core idea is deceptively simple: traditional folk material rearranged and refracted through the haze and heft of fuzzy and dreamy, psyche tinged rock with a smattering of noise and shoegaze.
What Crumbling Ghost latch onto is not folk as a museum piece, but as a lived experience, the dramas rooted in the culture, stories, and daily lives of ordinary people, the folklore, the tales of love and death, murder and adultery, freedom and oppression.
On ‘Four’ those narratives are dragged into the present via churning distortion, hypnotic repetition and a sense of looming atmosphere. Fairport Convention with fuzz. Trees with heft. A pastoral Sonic Youth.
The result is a set of murder ballads, supernatural reckonings and cautionary tales, all wrapped in slabs of heavy, thumping fuzz and atmospheric sonics. Harnett’s voice sits at the centre: unmistakably folk‑rooted, but shorn of prettification, melodic yet capable of real bite. There’s no “hey nonny nonny” here.
Musically, it’s a combination that really does work, and it’s delivered in some style too. And to fully appreciate the world of Crumbling Ghost, listening closely pays dividends, and those stories come to life.
New single “Last of All Sleep” is not a Crumbling Ghost reinterpretation of a dark and distant folk murder ballad, nor a cover of a little known 90’s SubPop grunge downtuned, downtempo album-track-that-should-have-been-a-single, but it feels like a song you’ve wanted to hear and yet known for years, in other words, an instant classic.
If you were “Last of All Sleep” was written by Kristin Hersh when she spent a month in the desert with Kyuss and then gave the song to Earth (who are still to record it), you would be excited to hear it. You should be.
“Last of All Sleep” is Crumbling Ghost visiting the pantheon of slowcore with effortless cool and groove, along with oozing heavy Fuzz that Mudhoney, Alice in Chains or Melvins would head-nod to. It has also a killer vocal with hooks that Blackwater Holylight or Faetooth would kill for. And that solo at the end..! The band comment,
“Last Of All Sleep first emerged a little while back when Katie and I played in a previous band called Mordros. When rehearsing material for Four I brought this song back to the practice space as I thought it would compliment and contrast nicely with the rest of the material lined up for the new album. At the time it was written I was listening to a lot of Will Oldham which probably influenced the vibe to an extent. It’s telling a personal story based on the changing seasons, restlessness, and how the past teaches us to be present in the moment.” – John Mosley (guitar)
“For me, I first heard it when Johnny brought it in and I immediately wanted to add some subtle Kim/Kelley Deal Breeders overdrive to Johns finger picked clean guitar. As usual I got carried away and with Wayne (Adams) help, ended up with that monster guitar tone.” – Donny Hopkins (guitar)
“It is funny how we all interpret songs and to me the song is about a new relationship as it develops and blossoms through the year. The person in the song having potentially found their “significant other”. There is an ease about the way they float from season to season and appear to grow to understand one another. But hey, this is just my somewhat romantic interpretation, however, because of this I felt the vocal should be quite understated to reflect its day dreamy quality, mirroring the instrumental that chugs along reassuringly” – Katie Harnett (vocals)
Listen to the track now – https://cargo-independent.ffm.to/v78n48bedw
7 songs, 7 worlds, all honed to perfection by producer Wayne Adams (Green Lung/Big Lad) that will reward every repeated listen.
‘Four’ amply and beautifully demonstrates that when it comes to ‘folk horror’ there’s nothing quite as horrible as folk … Here, the horror such as it is, and it must be said, the moments of light, comes not from theatrics, but from the songs themselves – which, after all, is where it’s always lived.
Here, the horror such as it is, and it must be said, the moments of light, comes not from theatrics, but from the songs themselves – which, after all, is where it’s always
lived.
‘Four’ will be released by New Heavy Sounds on August 7th on a 300 only limited edition red and white marbled vinyl. Also available on limited edition CD and download. Pre-order now:
Crumbling Ghost are:
John Mosley – Guitar
Donny Hopkins – Guitar
Ruth O’Loughlin – Bass
Katie Harnett – Vocals
Matthew Atkins- Drums
Follow online – https://www.facebook.com/crumblingghost
Photo credit: Credit Ryan McClelland and Hannah Cheesbrough
