Holy Ghost! – Static on the Wire

By Tim • August 27, 2010 • News & Leaks, Reviews

Holy Ghost! (MySpace) duo Alex Frankel and Nick Millhiser may have started off life as part of hip hop teen-thing Automato, but thank God DFA encouraged them to move towards their current electric disco-funk sound that we have grown to love over the years. They have spent most of the last three years remixing other people’s work, but on Static on the Wire they are offering up four songs all of their own.

You are thrown straight into that electro-funk in the opening title track with smooth vocals, tight beats and a world of synths. Say My name is slower to build, but once the piano trickles into the vocal line, the whole creation transforms into something more driving, only letting up for a slightly sunnier chorus.

I Will Come Back gets right back into the funk beat, and bouncey synth-line that should remind anyone to pack some dancing shoes, with an uplifting chorus that almost briefly touches on the euphoric. The EP then comes to a close with I Know, I Hear which starts keeps interest in the rhythms with some titillating hi-hats a clean bass-line and then drops in the simple synth melody you know the dancefloor has been waiting for – but it doesn’t stop their as some tom-toms thunder in and you get a vocals chorus straight out of a 1980s playbook.

This isn’t a pop record with everything shortened into 3 minute bursts, but is given enough time (most are about 6 minutes long) to develop and transform into something much better. Let’s hope this is a precursor to a full-length release.

Holy Ghost! – Say My Name
Holy Ghost! – I Will Come Back
…and there’s one hell of a remix on its way as well. Watch this space.