The members of Glass Ghost are very fond of Deerhoof, and so is whoever writes their press releases. The keyboard and drums duo toured with them frequently as both as part of their old band, Flying, and will set out on the road again with them this year. They label them as a primary influence, and go a little way to actually imitating the un-imitatable. Though, obviously, they’re not in the same league.

Deerhoof’s genre classification has always been hard to pin down, and so too is that of Glass Ghost. A mix of real jazz drumming and fake hip hop beats, fuzzy electro synths and weird proggy keyboards, annoying falsetto vocals and more pleasant choral “aaaah”s all combine in to a pretty eclectic mix for a half-hour album but, somehow, despite the sheer weight of additional performers adding strings, horns, organs and the like to each track, a lot of it sounds a little limp and unfinished. Like they’re waiting for the crushing, noisy guitars to be added. It’s a bit weird, and results in an album that sounds sparse and paranoid, where every little noise makes a difference because something is eerily absent.

But, y’know, Deerhoof seem to like them.

Rob Evans