Wednesday 10 April 2013

Album review: Team Ghost - Rituals

Escaping the shackles of the past was never going to be easy for Nicolas Fromageau. The co-founder of M83 may have jumped ship in 2004, but his early contribution to the synth-pop outfit continues to cast a heavy shadow over his work.

 In truth, Fromageau doesn’t help himself. Last year’s brace of Team Ghost EPs pedalled likeminded sonic themes, and with its opulent instrumentation and introverted atmospherics, his debut LP displays detectable traces of his former plaything.

Despite the parallels, Rituals outlines a not-so-subtle shift in tack. The spindly electro-gazing has been supplanted by tense post-rock structures that throb out like the enveloping “Things Are Sometimes Tragic” and “All We Left Behind”’s sky-scraping fervour of drum and guitar.

It doesn’t always hit the mark – “Montreuil”’s radio-friendly slink is painstakingly lightweight – but there’s enough substance here to suggest Fromageau can finally put the past behind him.


First published in the print edition of Under the Radar

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