One of those magical times of your life is when you are no longer a teenager. The moment you open your eyes on the morning of your 20th birthday and realise that from this day forward you are officially classified as an “adult”. What did you do when that alarm clock went off? Did you lay there and contemplate life’s mysteries? Did you go to the mall and spend all day hanging around your favourite shops? Did you think about releasing your 5th album? You did? Oh in that case you must be Ryan Thomas Schmale.
Ryan, from Santa Rosa, CA, is better known as That Ghost and has released his 5th Album, “Songs Out Here”. It was written partially on the grounds of author Jack London’s estate and I’ve been telling everybody who will listen (and to be honest there aren’t many) particularly all my twitter followers, that listening to this album is like finding a wireless from the past, twiddling the dial and tuning into a bygone time.
I expect he probably gets tired of the haunted epithet being tied into the ghost name but that’s exactly what listening to this album is like. If this was an atmospheric Hollywood movie with black and white flashbacks, this is the music that would be playing.
I have to be honest, when I first picked this up I thought it was a debut. When I found out that this was the fifth album, I was blown away and wanted to immediately find the first four. Apparently this is a more introspective, sombre and heartfelt work than previous albums, but to my mind it is easily one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time which is why we’ve labelled That Ghost as one to watch.
You have a taster here in the track “To Like You”, a spectral 60′s style rock and roll track showcasing the style of the album. Ryan’s distorted vocals echoing over the rockabilly drum and guitars are atmospheric, tugging at the heartstrings. I’m really hoping he hits the UK soon because I really want to catch his live show. You can download the album here.
Connect With That Ghost: MySpace | Facebook | LastFM
