Holy Ghost!: Holy Ghost! Review

81/100

Leading up to seeing Holy Ghost! open for Cut Copy last month at First Avenue, I had heard one song and was vaguely interested in the band and their 80’s synth pop revivalist sound. What I wasn’t expecting was to like the band as much as I did, which led me to their debut, self titled LP, which is out now on DFA records. The record polishes the group’s slinky, dance floor ready jams, soldiering on the already commanding reputation of DFA for creating and releasing some of the very best electro-dance music around these days.

The songs on Holy Ghost! are airtight, 80’s referencing synth pop numbers that sound gigantic coming out of the speakers. The synths are lush, the drums are crisp and the melodies will ring in your ears for days, especially on epic jams like “Hold On” and “Hold My Breath,” which beg to be put on repeat and would get even the most rigid people (like myself) onto a dance floor. Some tracks bleed a little too much into the “pop” territory for my personal taste (“It’s Not Over”) and a few (the corny funk of “Static on the Wire” and over dramatic “Some Children”) are simply disappointing and borderline annoying, but for the most part the album succeeds in a genre that can be tricky terrain.

I am not dense enough to think that there are not going to be some people who are not going to be impressed with the retro synth pop sounds that populate Holy Ghost! For those who are on board with the 80’s throwback club sound (and DFA in particular), this album is going to hit home in a real way.

Holy Ghost! – Hold On by future classic

     -Josh