San Francisco’s experimental electronic group no:carrier are back with an intriguing new EP. Like Erasure’s Abba-esque EP, Ghosts of the West is four covers of songs done in the band’s typical synthpop style. By appropriating these classics, the group has formed a loose concept about “the American dream gone wrong,” and each song features a different West Coast vocalist. These songs you wouldn’t normally expect to be re-imagined into a moody, atmospheric context, but they all, for the most part, work extremely well.
Not only are the songs chosen unexpected, no:carrier’s choices venture into taboo territory for the genre they work within. Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer” or Belinda Carlisle’s “California” are almost the antithesis of synthpop, but in taking such a bold step, it can only leave you feeling pleasantly surprised.
Perhaps the most unusual of the four songs, the Irish traditional “She Moved Through the Fair,” sounds like a lost classic produced by Depeche Mode for This Mortal Coil. The only song that doesn’t quite work, Tony Carey’s “Room With A View,” only missteps slightly because it merely feels like an amped up version of the original rather than a reworking. Yet Ghosts of the West remains an imaginative and bold creation, proving again that covering songs can be not only a channel for self-expression, but an art form in itself.
