Florida’s Tyler Costello has finally returned to Ghost Fan Club. After an unofficial hiatus of the project, taken due to feeling like they were unable to find their footing amongst personal turmoil, it makes a triumphant reappearance with Costello’s strongest work yet.
If you’re familiar with Costello, you will know they are also behind the project Two Meters, a name under which Costello began releasing metal-inspired work. The noisy body of work was an interesting addition to his catalogue, acting as the very antithesis of what makes up the sonic language of Ghost Fan Club. This dichotomy is exciting, especially now since it is obvious how much influence the former project has had on the latter.
The clearest indication of this crossover influence is the addition of live drums to Ghost Fan Club’s sound, courtesy of Tom Morris (better known as the person behind Swim Camp). Very little of Costello’s previous work in this world has featured drums in a big way, if any way at all, in some instances, yet they feel completely at home on this recent EP. ‘Love Bug’ features a wonky synth alongside swinging drums and ghostly affected vocals, bearing a resemblance to Alex G at his most stripped back. In a similar fashion, ‘Shoulders’ is a slower affair but remains firmly in the same landscape, sounding like slowcore band Codeine at their heaviest and most raw. ‘Brave’ and ‘Now and Then’ are some of the dustiest tracks Costello has produced, sounding like they’ve come straight out of your dad’s old cassette player. It is a familiar sonic language for the artist, yet they wield the lo-fi label clearly with nothing but pride.
It is lovely for Tyler Costello to release music as Ghost Fan Club once again. Where it would have been easy to return as the same iteration of the artist, Costello has taken a risk by slightly altering the sound of the project, changing how he approached his work. The result is nothing short of wonderful, and hopefully, it promises a continued streak of achingly haunting slowcore that we are always in dire need of.
Written by Callum Foulds
