Jersey Beat reviews Palm Ghosts’ Channeling EP

Paul Silver from Jersey Beat had kind words for Palm Ghosts’ Channeling EP:

”We’ve reached the third EP in Palm Ghosts’ ambitious endeavor to release four EPs this year, culminating in a double LP collection at the end of the year featuring all four EPs and some bonus tracks. Like the previous two releases, this one features five songs of music that could loosely be called post-punk, with deep baritone Ian Curtis-like lead crooning vocals.

The first EP (Escape) hopped through variations within the post-punk genre, and the second (Masks) had a more cohesive sound mixing bright and dark post-punk with a pop edge. But this new EP’s songs are a little more experimental in nature. From the start of the first track, ‘Wilderness of Mirrors,’ we hear something more sinister, darker than anything Palm Ghosts have done before. The wilderness of mirrors that surround us are constantly reflecting distortions of our collective features, as the song tells us, seeming to explain that our worst fears are mere reflections of ourselves and what we put into the world.

‘Church Windows’ is a dark, brooding song about how organized religion, though a solace for many, seeks to keep people in ignorance (‘Stop asking questions you don’t wanna know the answers’ comes the song’s refrain, as the song also alludes to religious leaders purposely creating shadows to obscure things (‘I seek to starve the shadows born from / The church’s window lights’) and how they cast a fog to confuse (‘But through the fog beset on me / I see not my own hand’).

The upbeat ‘Love Bombed and Conquered’ features dark booming bass and glittering synths, while singer Joseph Lekkas’ sonorous vocals sing of being trapped in an evil cult. ‘We Measure Days by What We’ve Lost’ sounds brighter than the preceding tracks, with a sweeping saga sound, though the topic is darker.

‘This Side of Heaven,’ which closes the EP, is the brightest song of them all, and one of the brightest Palm Ghosts songs yet. It’s got a nice thick sound, surfy lead guitars singing out while the rhythm guitar sits in the background creating more ambience than rhythm.

Three EPs, a cohesive sound, yet all three have significant differences. I think Channeling may be the best one yet.”