Holiday Ghosts are going against the contemporary indie grain, in an era when bands seem to be either trendy Brixton Windmill-coded post-punk or lads lads lads meat-and-potatoes guitar rock.
More recent reference points would be the likes of The Orielles and Hinds, but they owe most of their sound to the C86 era, and its mix of post-punk and jangle pop. Opener ‘Western Daylight’ is a pleasant opener, and soon gives way to the stockier, more substantial ‘Big Congratulations’ on which the four-piece come across as a slightly punkier Flatmates or Pastels.
‘Energy’ has an underlying darker energy with a post-punk bassline underpinning the whole track – it’s inspired by a rather obscure Devo track, ‘Golden Energy’, and pokes fun at the things people will swear by to cure all of life’s ills – like the man who told co-vocalist and guitarist Sam Stacpoole to take an ecstasy pill to cure his flu.
Throughout ‘Coat Of Arms’, there’s a big focus on the political, intertwined with the personal – on the frenetic, wonderfully ramshackle ‘Sublime Disconnect’, fellow vocalist and drummer Katja Rackin explores her identity as someone born in Sweden to Iranian parents, moving to England as a child – lyrics like “The city’s in smoke and crumbles to dust” and “Now they ask who am I and where am I from / Will I find peace when I belong?” speak for themselves.
The title track, which comes next, was written and sung by rhythm guitarist Ben Nightingale, and looks at learning to know yourself, and “having empathy for the stoic,” in Nightingale’s own words, an interesting subject and one that’s treated with careful consideration. ‘Today’s Headlines’, meanwhile, has an upbeat guitar melody that runs throughout, but the subject matter isn’t so uplifting. “Keep me waiting, but don’t you leave me in silence,” sings Rackin.
‘I’m Still Here’ has a more indie-by-numbers feel and doesn’t stand out in the same way as the rest of the songs on the album, but the album is able to finish on a high note with the jangly ‘Shoot For Peace’, which manages to encapsulate the feel of the entire almost perfectly into just one track.
On that note, Holiday Ghosts are best when Rackin’s vocals take centre stage, or when her voice is accompanied by that of one of her bandmates in classic twee style. A large part of what makes ‘Coat of Arms’, and Holiday Ghosts more generally, so good is the working relationship between vocalists and primary songwriters Rackin and Stacpoole, the longest-serving members of the band – they wrote more of the music and lyrics together than they have on previous album, and this cohesiveness shows. Nightingale and bassist Morgan Lloyd-Matthews are involved too, making ‘Coat Of Arms’ a delightfully collaborative project.
7/10
Words: Adam England
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