Ghost Cathedral - Ghost Cathedral

Ghost Cathedral 

Ghost Cathedral 
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Ghost Cathedral, who are they? I’m not completely sure. From what I gather it's one guy. His self-titled effort Ghost Cathedral is a six-song EP. It draws from the darker shades of post-punk. There is a good amount of white noise, effects and ominous tones scattered across the EP.

He opens with “Nether Hop” which contains distorted strings, a distant organ and lightly played percussion. His wife mentions that he kind of sounds like Thurston Moore and I can back that up. He's not a dead ringer but something within his inflection certainly sounds similar. 

The song doesn't completely warrant the six-plus-minute track. The groove changes in the song but it's not particularly noticeable unless you are paying close attention. That being said I enjoyed the hypnotic quality to the song.

Next up is “Disdain For You.” The notable thing about the song are the vocal effects. He detunes one of the vocal melodies which makes it sound demonic and slightly evil and silly at the same time. The drums hang low and the song like the opener doesn't feel like it has significant changes. 

​“Carmilla” is an eight-plus-minute song. I enjoyed the slightly disorienting timing of the song. I was also happy hear some notable sections in the song with clear distinctions. Overall, this song felt like the centerpiece with the most thought behind it.  Great song and would have loved to hear this one with a full band behind it.

He reverts to finding one groove with marginal changes on “Family Reunion. It is a bass, percussion heavy groove. His whispering here sounds more like Trent Reznor than Thurston Moore. Psychedelic, morbid madness occurs on “Dagger Eyes” while “Sleeptime” is an ambient piece comparable to Eno.

​Ghost Cathedral is a solid DIY effort that is far from perfect but I think that was some of the idea behind it.

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