November 5, 2024

Skylight Webzine

Online since 2000

Atmospheric rockers Crooked Ghost explore the burden of melancholy in new single

With a new intriguing melancholic offering, post-punks Crooked Ghostpresent their new single‘Black Rainbow’, offering a tastes of their forthcoming album ‘Colors Bleed’.

This haunting track follows up the EP’s first single‘Sinew in Red’,  They also now present the video for this sleek and sultry track about self-obsession and dirty secrets.

“Black Rainbow is a bittersweet song about mental illness and suicide. It sounds bright, but if you look a little closer, the darkness peers through. It’s a song that means a lot to me personally, and I hope it can shine a little bit of light on a dark and taboo subject that really isn’t discussed enough. The video has a ‘dark Ray’ who is skewering ‘light Ray’ who is trapped inside his own heart, desperately trying to communicate with the band through electronic devices. I’m really happy with how this video turned out, Rome and everyone involved did a beautiful job,” says Ray Lark.

Rome Widenhouse, who filmed and directed this video, elaborates: “The video for Black Rainbow explores the relationship of spiritual and material aspects of the self. Often indulgence in impulsive vices comes expense of the spiritual self. Those we surround ourselves with provide us with advice they believe to be helpful, but is little more than revisiting of their own wounds and dysfunction. Black Rainbow describes the plea for help, lost in translation”.

Hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, ‘Colors Bleed’ is the third release from Crooked Ghost, following on the heels of their ‘Skeleton House’ album (released February 2019 on limited edition 12″ colored vinyl). These four new songs see the Ghosts moving in a more colorful direction. The songs are bigger and brighter than those before, with dreamy melodies, and some of Crooked Ghost’s most honest lyrics to date.

This EP was recorded in Black Mountain, NC by longtime friend and producer Edward Madill. The EP itself was inspired by mental illness and the struggles of growing up LGBTQ in a not-so-accepting world.

Formed in 2013 by Ray Lark, Crooked Ghost was initially a channel for leftover songs that didn’t seem to fit in any of the other bands he was involved in, but quickly became the focal point of Ray’s creative energy. Today Crooked Ghost is Ray Lark (guitar, vocals), Chris Saldin (bass), Alex Cannon (keyboard), Jon Wyatt (drums) and Charles Reed (guitar).

The band released their debut LP ‘Strange Burial Rituals’ in March 2017. With two distinct halves (the first is lighter, the second darker), the album plays out like a story, or rather, two opposite stories that are intertwined. Their most recent videos are for ‘Roadkill’and ‘Sleepwalker’.

The full ‘Colors Bleed’ EP will be released on September 20 on limited edition CD through the band’s own imprint, and will be available digitally across platforms such as iTunes and Spotify.  It can already be pre-ordered via Bandcamp.

TRACK LIST  
1. Black Rainbow
2. Sinew In Red
3. Golden Blue
4. Bright White Noise

CREDITS
Ray Lark (lyrics, vocals, guitar)
Chris Saldin (bass)
Jon Wyatt (drums)
Charles Reed (guitar)
Alex Cannon (Keyboards)
Produced by Edward Maddill and Crooked Ghost
Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio
Copyright 2019 Crooked Ghost Records
Album artwork by Ray Lark

Soundcloudhttps://soundcloud.com/goodbyemrmackenzie/07-the-rattler/s-gvV7e
‘The Rattler’ original videohttps://youtu.be/F23SoNYjEwI
‘The Rattler’ on The Tubehttps://youtu.be/gCyoUu51ATY
Live on The Chart Show https://youtu.be/ZT9T3ef0a0Y
Album order linkhttps://blokshok.bigcartel.com/products

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Source: https://www.facebook.com/CrookedGhost