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For those of us who are still lamenting the demise of Slowdive and Chapterhouse, Ghostlike, the latest EP from Craig Christo’s Sans Arc, provides a lush and atmospheric musical scrapbook that is affectionately reminiscent of those who defined the Shoegaze movement. The album’s title track, which also provides its opening, is a hypnotic and repetitive soundscape that blends electronic and orchestral elements expertly, weaving a gauzy and ethereal blanket that introduces the listener to the band’s signature sound. This same deliberate and brooding tapestry of reverb-heavy, guitar-laden composition is woven throughout Ghostlike, which includes four new tracks, one song from the full length album, Irradiate, and the five tracks found on Sans Arc’s first EP, A Remote View, providing ten tracks in all. However, if the strength of Ghostlike lies in the rich texture of Christo’s compositions and the proficiency and skill that are apparent in the recording/mixing of this self-produced EP, then the band’s clear weakness lies in Christo’s vocals, which, in most instances, seem awkward and clumsy against the backdrop of his lush arrangements. It’s not that Christo’s vocal abilities are lacking per se, instead it’s that the vocals he provides are grossly inappropriate for the type of music he is attempting to create. With the exception of the EP’s fourth track, ‘Over and Over,’ (in which Christo has mixed the vocals such that they become just another layer of music woven into the fabric of this delicate three minute track), for the most part, his vocals are too raw, too callous and too unpredictable for the ethereal atmosphere created on Ghostlike. If one of the defining characteristics of the Shoegaze movement is that of vocals which, like good instrumentation, are an essential part of the whole, noted more by their absence than their presence, then, unfortunately, in this one area, Sans Arc has missed the mark. However, that being said, Ghostlike is still a fairly solid release that offers, if nothing more, a promising beginning for this California band.
JENNIFER JONES
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