28. March 2025
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Media Review

Wooden Empire – Ghosts

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Wooden Empire - Ghosts

Wooden Empire - Ghosts
3.7

Rating

 3.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Nice folk-pop listen
  • Good songs and melodies

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Sometimes a bit too brave

Country-folk sounds from Luxembourg: Wooden Empire are active since a few years. On the rather unusual date of Tuesday, the 16th August 2022, the quartet releases their first full-length album, Ghosts. I had the opportunity to have a listen. Here is my review.

 

Wooden Empire – About The Artists

Wooden Empire is a quartet from Luxembourg. The leader, singer and songwriter is Fränz Dahm. He is also playing the acoustic guitar, ukulele, piano and harmonica. Marc Dahm is an additional (acoustic / electric) guitarists. Tim Knaff is the bassist and Michel Streff the drummer of the band. In 2018, they already released a three track EP named after the first track, Together We Are Alone. One year later, they added the single What’s Left Of Us to their discography. All songs are also part of Ghosts.

 

Wooden Empire – Ghosts – Track by Track

The ten track album lasts 31 minutes.

1. Story Of What Went Wrong

The opener of Ghosts is a coming with a nice and somehow welcoming melody. The start is a bit of slow, but then the Story Of What Went Wrong turns into a nice listen.

2. Chances

Chances been one of the songs released before the album. A bit similar to its predecessor, it takes some one minute before it really catches me and I get into the song. Bad luck: the song is just 2:38 minutes long. It’s got potential for better, I feel.

3. Lost

Lost is much more present from its very beginning. Lost is a good listen with nice vibes. I also enjoy the vocal performance over the two songs before.

4. Wounds

You feel the Wounds while listening to the songs. Wooden Empire just take a slight acoustic guitar strumming and Fränz Dahm. Just in the last minute, the anger in this song turns into more power and volume.

5. Stone By Stone

The racy Stone by Stone is one of my favorites of the album. Nice, easy folk-pop song, which still comes with a message when you have a deeper listen. Nice arrangement as well.

6. Flower

Flower is something like the most “exotic” song on the whole album. One reason to see it is that the song is close to five minutes – and thus some one and half minute longer than any track in this collection. I feel the Luxembourg guys do great here. They also have much more time to show some instrumental highlights than in the other songs. Would have to listen to more songs like this one.

7. Together We Are Alone

Together We Are Alone opens a block of three songs, which have already been released by the quartet. This one is already one of their best ones. The song has a nice vibe, a good presence, but is also having a nice slow-down moment, roughly in the middle of the track. Nice plot, very good arrangement.

8. What’s Left Of Us

The eighth song is a slower track again, but it does have some nice energy, especially in the chorus, when the band is nicely working with a wider arrangement as well. Good one.

9. Ghosts

Two songs left, time for the title tracks. Ghosts has one of the nicest melodies of the album, I also like the slight “raspiness” in Dahm’s voice. Finally, a song with a harmonica part just cannot be that bad, can it? Very nice one.

10. Crumbling Into Sand

Crumbling Into Sand is a nice instrumental closer. The song almost feels like Hawaiian slack guitar. It is a bit of disconnected to the remaining album, though.

 

Wooden Empire – Ghosts – Spotify

Here is Ghosts on Spotify:

 

Wooden Empire – Ghosts – My View

These guys did a really nice job here. I would love them to dare to push their limits here and there a bit more, but they have a nice potential. The album is a nice listen – and I guess that they could be fun on stage as well.

 

Luxembourg at Flyctory.com

Here are all my postings related to Luxembourg:

 

Music – Folk Music Postings 2022

Here are all my Music & Media postings related to folk music in 2022:

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