C.D. Singles Club #23 – The Marshmallow Ghost – Shrieks

I have a confession to make, friends. I don’t really dig on Halloween. It isn’t my favorite holiday. It isn’t even in my top twenty. Don’t ask me why – I don’t really know. I mean, I used to loooove Halloween (though I probably went dressed as a “hobo” 75% of the time and five years running), and then, one year, I didn’t. Maybe it was going to college, when it became a frat boy holiday and the ubiquitous “sexy (fill in the blank)” costumes took over. Maybe I just became a bastard.  Like I said, I don’t really know.

So you’ll understand when I say I was less than enthusiastic when I opened an email  and found mention of Black Moth Super Rainbow off-shoot  The Marshmallow Ghosts (which also features members of The Appleseed Cast, Casket Girls, and Dreamend) releasing a Halloween-themed 7-inch. Big whoop, Halloween, whatever. Right? Wrong.

For whatever reason, maybe because I’m bored or because the slow-cooker still needs some time to work its magic before my buffalo wing soup is ready to eat, I decided to open the sucker up and give it a listen. Right off the bat it had my interest, and kept it, gripping it tighter and tighter all the way through.

The snippet you’ll find below begins with a creepy old lady reading a story to you about how you decided to investigate a light in an abandoned old tower, an adventure from which  you never return (mwah ha ha), and then the boys in the band take over, settling first into a deep groove beneath samples of wind rustling and cats crying, before really getting their psychadelic spooky jam on (the organ really helps here) before some unintelligible dialogue, crow squaks, and one long-held chord leave you with just the right vibe. Time to carve up a pumpkin and buy some clearance priced candy! Check out the whole album through Graveface Records here.

The Marshmallow Ghosts – Shrieks (excerpt)