Labels: Fluttery Records
Review by: MH
Gespenst are two brothers from Malaysia who blur the lines between post rock and classical music. Gespenst itself means “ghost” or “spectre” in German and they also have a track on here with a German title. One of the first things I noticed is that the production values are quite high and they have a big cinematic and polished sound at times. This is partly due to the synth work on some of the tracks. This isn’t bad though and some of it is quite good – particularly the quieter, more twinkly moments like on “The Bloodline”, for example. They don’t go for many of the really loud parts of some post rock. The start of “Departure” is also pretty nice and simplistic. A few of the rocky moments from the guitars put me off a little. The shimmering guitar on “Leaving The Light” reminds me of the likes of Mono. However, it then has a more standard rocky drumbeat and tails off after a good start. “September” stands out for me as the best track. It is the most twinkly song on here and delves into Explosions In The Sky territory. It has a sad voiceover sample halfway through “” a quote from a Sylvia Plath poem.
Overall this album is quite good but a little too slick for my liking – I would prefer they kept the bigger, rockier moments to a minimum. I guess I just prefer post rock to be a bit more grubby. Still, pretty nice and I like how the album closes with the relatively simple and melancholy sounding “Vermissen”.