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A Choir of Ghosts – An Ounce of Gold

A Choir of Ghosts - An Ounce of Gold

4

Ratings

4.0/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice country-folk mix
  • Nice, different songs at the beginning
  • Great songwriting and storytelling

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Would love to have one or two surprising tracks towards the end of the album

Due to my collaboration with Greywood Records, I received a quite interesting CD from the folk song genre: An Ounce of Gold is the debut album of the A Choir of Ghosts project. As the band already had quite some success, e.g. on Spotify, it felt that this could be an interesting listening to. The album will be released on 3rd April 2020.

 

A Choir of Ghosts – About The Artists

The project A Choir of Ghosts is a British-Swedish project driven by folk musician James Auger, who for example previously published songs with James Auger & The Natives. The initial single of the project was Ester, which has been released in October 2016. The single Morning Light, which A Choir of Ghosts published in December 2017, is the biggest success so far, having over one million streams on Spotify. In 2018, the band released their first EP, Woods. An Ounce of Gold is the debut album of the project.

 

A Choir of Ghosts – An Ounce of Gold – Track by Track

The album contains eleven tracks. It lasts 38 minutes.

1. Intro

I a not too much a fan of intros on album. This one leads to Sinner of Rapture and nicely introduces a sailor music-alike sound. Nice production – full stop.

2. Sinner in Rapture

Sinner in Rapture is really a cool track. Having this maritime sound, but also some nice backing voices and a touch of folk, it is just a lovely piece to get into An Ounce of Gold.

3. Outside the Window

I would not feel too happy if An Ounce of Gold was an album full of that sailor song types. The more I like Outside the Window. A folk-country mix, handmade straight music, well sung and performed, nice song. Love it!

4. The Days Fade Quicker

The fourth song is quite focused on the lyrics and the guitar. This simplistic arrangement still creates a nice mood. The guitar feels quite dominant – but somehow, I do not feel that to be disturbing. Feels quite intimate and thus catching.

5. An Ounce of Gold

While The Days Fade Quicker is quite a slow song, the title track is really energetic. There are even some string sounds. Good stuff, definitely.

6. Southwest of the Moon

Back to the slow songs: I would describe Southwest of the Moon as a country music ballad (though I have to admit that especially in slow songs, folk and country are that close). This one, the arrangement is definitely giving the voice a lot of room, which makes this track a really great to listen track.

7. Driving Home

Dirivng Home has a very similar setup: nice bed of guitar sounds, a song concentrated on the voice, on the storytelling. Great songs just to listen to.

8. The Water

The Water is a bit more powerful than the two songs before, but overall, it is another slow guitar-driven track. Could imagine that the track is really good on tour, especially in intimate atmospheres.

9. Better Off Alone

After three songs, which are rather on the slow side, I definitely long for some more power and energy. Better Off Alone will definitely never be a dancefloor classic, but at least the comparably slow song is very charismatic and even features a female voice.

10. Human

A song to close your eyes and slowly sway from the left to the right and back – that’s Human. I definitely enjoy this kind of travel. Thank for taking me on that route!

11. The Taste of Smoke

The album concludes with a bit more rhythmic and quicker The Taste of Smoke. Nice melody, really feels a bit like farewell tunes.

 

A Choir of Ghosts – An Ounce of Gold – Spotify

Here is the Spotify widget to the album:

 

A Choir of Ghosts – An Ounce of Gold – My View

A Choir of Ghosts might not be a masterpiece, but An Ounce of Gold is definitely a very solid album. The songs are catching, great storytelling and just a very good folk-county genre mixture. The songs feel very straight. While the beginning of the album feels very versatile and has different tunes, I would favor to have one to more intense and speedier tracks – but I guess fans of the band and the folk genre rather prefer what they got in his album. Definitely fun listening to.

 

A Choir of Ghosts – An Ounce of Gold – Tourdates

These are the tour dates of A Choir of Ghosts in 2020. More shows are likely to be added. Especially the initial shows in Scandinavia will likely be postponed due to Corona virus:

Fr 03.04.2020 Östersund (SE), Jazzköket
Sa 04.04.2020 Strömsund (SE), Saga
So 12.04.2020 Trondheim (NO), Antikvariatet
Fr 17.04.2020 Solleftea (SE), Bowlingen Cafe
Th 14.05.2020 Berlin, Bar Bobu
Fr 15.05.2020 Werder, Duval
Sa 16.05.2020 Lübeck, Tonfink
Su 17.05.2020 Hamburg, Pooca Bar
Mo 18.05.2020 Darmstadt, Zur Goldenen Krone
Tu 19.05.2020 Wuppertal, Viertelbar
Fr 22.05.2020 Würzburg, Nähcafe
Tu 26.05.2020 London, Fiddler’s Ellbow

 

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