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Ghost of the Russian Empire: With Fiercest Demolitions
Written by: Thomas Bell
A secret many musicians don’t realize: when a listener first goes to a show or hears a record from a band they’ve never heard or heard of, they want it to be great. No sentient being with any semblance of a heart wants it to suck. How refreshing then, to put in the debut EP from Ghost of the Russian Empire, With Fiercest Demolition, and to be not just glad, but intrigued and already looking forward to hearing this band live and in their future work.
I come from a classical music background. When a classical musician sends in an audition CD, it ideally demonstrates the range of what the musician does best. If With Fiercest Demolition were an audition CD it would pass with flying colors. First of all, from the opening trumpet riff to last note it is engaging and leaves me wanting more. Personally, I was apprehensive about this record because I really liked it the first time I heard it. Much of the music I like most I wasn’t at all sure about the fist time I heard it.
Little can be learned about Ghost of the Russian Empire at this point except for a one paragraph bio on the 30 Ghosts label website and their Myspace page. Most of what can be learned about this band is on the six tracks of With Fiercest Demolition, their debut EP.
Listening to this record there are moments when Radiohead (Thom York’s vocals in particular), Ride, and The Ocean Blue come to mind... also the patient building of songs that Doves do so effectively. When one likes a record on first listen, a question lurks: is this a rehash of whatever familiar sounds it reminds you of, or have they utilized these elements and added something to them? On repeated listens it becomes clear that this record accomplishes the latter. It's a promising debut.
I wonder if these guys were in band in high school or had some formal musical training? From start to finish, this record is sophisticated in terms of orchestration, rhythm (hear the flawless, subtle time signature changes in the opening track, August 1914), and patience and restraint as each song builds. By building a song, I mean that there's a temptation to want to get to that louder, hard driving, all-out part. To “build” a song in this sense involves starting simply or understatedly and adding slowly the layers and building up to that place every one wants a song to go. Listening to this record you know they’re going there. But, the journey is thoughtfully crafted – so that each step, each added layer of sound, is enjoyable.
Brandon Whitten’s vocals may be likened to Thom York’s in some senses. But he doesn’t come across as a traditional rock frontman at any point in this record. He accomplishes all the emotion, intensity and expression any front man could hope to, but he never “takes over.” He makes his voice part of the organic whole on the sublime sounds of With Fiercest Demolition. Think Mark Gardener and Andy Bell’s vocals with Ride. It's rare and refreshing.
A lot of credit for the success of this record has to be given to drummer/percussionist Mike Plata. Whether it’s his effortless navigation through the time signature changes in the opening track or the minimal, foreboding, tribal tom-tom playing on Psychomedicated. Ghost of the Russian Empire are not only a band, they're true musicians.
Sounds: atmospheric, brooding, dark; but not “mopey” or defeated ever. Determined. Not cynical. Shoegazer, psychedelic, straight ahead rock, a sadness, but not resigned to it. If these songs were a movie character they might be a Sci-Fi action anti-hero like Kurt Russell in a John Carpenter movie. He’s getting the shite kicked out of him but you know he’s not going to give up and he’s going to hand out some retribution to some people who’ve got it coming by the end.
The lyrics are not the usual pop song throwaway fare. The subjects of their lyrics include history, politics and sci-fi. The songs are not stories or narratives as such — they're at times abstract puzzles to contemplate containing hints and nonsequiters. I’m not sure what some of them mean exactly, but they're literate, intelligent, and intriguing.
I was speaking a while back to a classical composer — the beauty of the age we live in is that there are composers who listen to every kind of music out there (check out an issue of The Wire sometime). Anyway, we were talking about a couple of his students who are friends of mine, and he said, “There are a lot of tenured professors of composition I know who wish they were writing stuff like these guys are writing.” I suspect that there are many tenured rock musicians who, if they hear this band, may wish they were writing stuff like Ghost of the Russian Empire.
