Ghost Buffalo is an alt-country-ish band from Colorado. They lean more to the "alt" side of that genre as they don't really use (at least on this record) lap pedal steel guitar, banjo, or any other instrumentation that one would expect to hear on a country record. The record is also largely absent of country twang. This is a good thing. Many alt-country bands lean more towards the country side these days, and it is nice to hear a different take on the sound. Ghost Buffalo has some pretty sounding songs fronted by vocalist Marie Litton; on this record there are twelve achingly pretty songs of loss, love, and regret. It is an extremely soothing album to listen to, especially when doing work that would otherwise agitate the hell out of you. (This is a tried and tested theory by the way.)
Ghost Buffalo has some really excellent sounding songs on this their eponymous debut album (I got to use this cliché phraseââ¬Â¦yeah!). Some of the highlights on this record include "Stay," "Ruin Everything," "Pick Me Up," "Hell Here," and "Blinding Sky." "Stay" is a pretty song with sappy sounding guitar parts that mesh well with the sorrowful sounding vocals. "Ruin Everything" is a bit edgy with its sickeningly sweet vocal arrangement. The music is very dynamic and amplifies the effect of the vocals. "Pick Me Up" has an infectious sounding chorus. It has a super mellow hook that had me singing along to it almost immediately. "Hell Here" begins with a static filled, faux radio effect on the vocals. I like this because it adds color to the song which is more poppy than most of the tracks on the album. It lays off the country nuances found on most of the record. "Blinding Sky" might just be my favorite song on Ghost Buffalo. It is a nice, calm track. The vocals are very relaxed and fill out the composition well. The melody is strong. It is at its essence, a simple, pretty sounding song.
Ghost Buffalo has fashioned a nice, almost beautiful sounding album of Americana. Their take on the alt-country genre is refreshingly sweet to the ear. Allow me to address the member situation, because it is bound to come up anyway. Yes, Matt from Planes Mistaken for Stars left that band to give Ghost Buffalo his full time attention. I am not sure if this will appeal to the fans of Planes because it is nowhere near as volatile sounding or kinetic. Ghost Buffalo stands on its own well and is a pretty good record.
