Ghost Color is a trio with an energetic DIY focus, based out of Sacramento, and comprised of Chris Winstead (Drums/Vox), Bryan Harty (Bass/Backing Vox), and Eric Davis (Guitar). Self-described as “Post-Alternative,” the band sounds closest to a combination of My Bloody Valentine’s shoegaze and Deftones’ harder elements. Their newest EP, American Book of the Dead, is a direct follow up to last year’s self-titled debut, and for the most continues where it left off. Although a slightly shorter release, American Book of the Dead is also both more melodic and focused than its predecessor by some degree.
The band seems especially obsessed with the idea that one day all bands come to an end, and this lends a certain urgency to everything they do. It materializes in their relatively rapid pace of putting out music, and it even affects the pace of the music itself. Songs from the new EP like “In Other Words” could easily be straightforward shoegaze, but this existentialism adds a theatrical anxiety. This does, occasionally, mean that their releases suffer from a lack of diversity, but American Book of the Dead remains regardless a compelling, albeit brief, roller-coaster that never once relents in its vision.
