Hurricane Bells - Tonight is the Ghost

Genre indie-pop Publisher Vagrant Records External Links

Personally, when I think of one-man bands, two names immediately come to mind: Trent Reznor and Andy Bernard. On the upper echelon, we have Reznor, the name behind Nine Inch Nails, who valiantly brought the industrial genre into mainstream and became a music icon with his forlorn tracks. On the other side of the spectrum, we have Andy Bernard, a socially-awkward side character in NBC’s beloved The Office. Bernard managed to record an a capella version of "Rockin’ Robin" as his ringtone by recording a bunch of tracks of his own voice and laying them on top of each other in an insanely annoying (yet catchy) song.  Obviously, the attempt to be a one man band can result in ground breaking superiority, or just land 6-feet underground.

Hurricane Bells debut album lands somewhere right in between there. Created as a side project by Longwave’s front man Steve Schiltz, Tonight is the Ghost has all the typical tones and lyrics of your average indie album leading up to little musical noteworthiness, but still fuses some unique styles together to remain interesting.

The album starts off strong with the tracks “This Year” and “This is a Test” which have some catchy hooks and buck the trend of self-loathing emo songs with lyrics like “It’s been a long, long year, but it’s getting better.” The clean guitar sounds and upbeat drum lines give the songs a unique personality that turn out to be appealing and engaging. However, after that, the CD takes a dive and goes right back into the emo “she doesn’t love me. Life sucks” type of lyrics.

Building upon the melancholy, the filler songs on Tonight is the Ghost are meant for those late-night insomniacs listening under dim lights in an otherwise eerily silent room. As the entire album was produced in Schiltz’s apartment on his Mac, the tones give a feeling of isolation and unwanted loneliness.

At first glance, the mix of a sliding guitar, Schiltz’s vocals, and the occasional musical whistling makes Tonight is the Ghost sound like a mediocre mix between The Thrills and Patrick Park. But the fact that Hurricane Bells got on the new Twilight: New Moon soundtrack made me want to reconsider my viewpoint. I mean, the fact that he is a part of the Twilight phenomenon must mean there is something there that I’m missing. There must be something there that makes it above average. Right?

That’s when I took note of some of the album’s intros and bridges. These are the highlight of the CD. With quick riffs and passionate rhythms, they definitely grab attention before the verses set up a repetition. “Tenterhooks” exploits this skill as an all-instrumental track with the lead guitar building up a strong anxiety feeling before dropping off into a solemn riff with some added in piano. This was the largest fluctuation in tone throughout the album giving the song some extra added passion.

Overall, Tonight is the Ghost is an average CD. Worth giving a listen for the fusion of some of the different indie styles like the use of a hard-rock guitar solo amidst the somber rhythm of “The Winters in New York.” But when the chips fall to the ground, the album has little replay value and will end up just being a placeholder on a shelf.