Missing out on that super-chill,
uber-jittery minimal groove thing?
Let's get real, real Ghosted again.
Oren Ambarchi has been col-
laborating with the Fire! trio (Mats
Gustafsson, Johan Berthling and
Andreas Werliin) for over a de-
cade - and both Johan and An-
dreas played on Oren's Live Hubris
as well. Oren and Johan began mu-
sic-making together back in the early
aughts - but it wasn't until 2021 that
the three of them got together to
record music. That became the first
Ghosted album. When they were
done, it was clear they had founded a
new group. A music of sustained ten-
sion and deep atmosphere marked
by subtle, shifting dynamics, Ghosted was released in May of 2022 to psyched response
everywhere; the trio embarked upon an ongoing series of concert bookings around Europe,
with loads of other people in the world still hoping to have the chance to be in the room at
the next show. Two years on, Ghosted has gone through several represses; now, it's time
for the "dreaded follow up album"! Rather than go back to the well, the guys decided to tear
everything down and start all over again, reimagining themselves from scratch.
Just kidding! As we've noted, Oren, Johan and Andreas have been playing together for
years and years, developing an essential telepathy within their shared space. They get each
other and feed each other's music processes on an elemental level. Why change that? What
made the most sense was to go back to Daneil Bengtsson at Studio Rymden in Stockholm
for a couple days, then have Oren and Joe Talia mix and Joe master it at Good Mixture in
Melbourne again, then get P l Dybwik to do some well-distinctive cover art, and once more,
call it a record.
That's just what they did - and it should be no surprise at all that the new Ambarchi/
Berthling /Werliin album looks and sounds as engrossing as their debut, if not more so!
Ghosted II has a definitively fresh quality radiating throughout it. The mutual feeling among
the three players goes deep, allowing for lots more to say every time they get together - a
further recombination of elements, a new expedition through alternative angles...there's
always more, and incredibly, it's all improvised, with next-to-nothing prepared going in and
minimal overdubs after they've laid things down. References are shared in shorthand, with
just a single word, like "Santana," or "Police" acting as working titles for certain pieces on this
record (have a guess!). It's a disservice to call them jams: above and beyond the innate feel of
the songs, there's a strong sense of structure, informed by the band's communal aesthetic,
and edified immeasurably by their time spent in concert the last couple years.
As noted at the top, these guys balance their music improbably between a relaxed feel
and a nervy resolve, as each member holds down their corner in an open sound field. Making
Ghosted II, the band found that there's a different kind of tension making something for an
established project rather than the kind one feels making something for the first time - and
they used this new variety, as before, as a kind of fuel - driving their terse minimalism fruit-
fully through the process of succumbing to and then transcending guilty pleasures. Finding
fresh territory in funk sketches, jazzy heads, ambient pastorals and droning soundtrack piec-
es, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin compellingly haunt a mad variety of spaces, leaving us
wanting to get Ghosted II.
