It’s a happy day when word of a new album from Ghostwoman hits the Joyzine inbox. I’ve been covering their releases since 2021 when I heard the Lost Echo’s EP. They have tested my fondness for hyperbolic writing to the limit and I have described their sound as many things including, “middle-of-nowhere gas station weirdness”, “sandpaper and honey”, “the kinds of ghosts you want to be haunted by”, “brooding and blackhole-dark”, “sounds like steel bridge cables being played with a concrete plectrum” and “evokes heavy construction work rather than drums”.
‘Alive’ is the advance guard for the album Welcome to the Civilised World being released on 5 September this year. Evan Uschenko (guitar) and Ille van Dessel (drums) say the forthcoming album is, “inspired by the absurdity of human behaviour and the circus that is life: sometimes feels like being in a room with no floor – that’s where a lot of these songs come from.”
The snarl of music from the wrong side of the tracks is still there from past releases (i.e. the dangerous but exhilarating side of the tracks), but ‘Alive’ has the twang of the 1960s; a slightly psychedelic warmth that harks back to The Byrds and Roger McGuinn distinctive Rickenbacker 12-string. It was “written on a particularly perfect day in rural Belgium” but still manages to pile on a very bracing, multi-layered, helter-skelter of guitar noise towards the end.
‘Alive’ and Welcome to the Civilised World are released through Full Time Hobby and Dine Alone Records.
Ghostwoman socials: Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp
Tour dates for the UK:
24/10/2025 – UK – Hare & Hounds – Birmingham
25/10/2025 – UK – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
26/10/2025 – IE – The Grand Social – Dublin
28/10/2025 – UK – Stereo – Glasgow
29/10/2025 – UK – YES – Manchester
30/10/2025 – UK – Exchange – Bristol
01/11/2025 – UK – The Garage – London
02/11/2025 – UK – Patterns – Brighton
Review by Paul F Cook
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