| Warm Ghost | |
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Warm Ghost Oliver Chapoy (left) and Paul Duncan |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Brooklyn, NY, USA |
| Genres | Indie folk Chillwave[1] electropop[2] Alt-folk[3] goth rock[4] Dream pop[5] |
| Years active | 2003-present[6] |
| Labels | Partisan Records |
| Website | partisanrecords.com/artists/warm-ghost |
| Members | |
| Paul Duncan, Vocals,[7], Guitar, Synths, Piano, Electronics, Programming Oliver Chapoy, Guitar, Piano, Synths, Modular Synth, Electronics, Programming |
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Warm Ghost is an American alternative music group based on the multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan[6] who specializes in eclectic sounds from a variety of music genres[3] and who has a background is sound design.[8] Duncan teamed with Oliver Chapoy and records music under the moniker Warm Ghost in 2011. The sound of the group has been highly eclectic with comparisons to numerous genres and groups, including Depeche Mode among others.[5] In 2011, Duncan got a record deal with Partisan Records after recording several albums on the HomeTapes label. The group is notable for positive attention from avant-garde music critics.
Duncan was born in East Texas, but studied sound design in Savannah, Georgia, before moving to Atlanta and then Brooklyn, New York in 2003.[6] He collaborated with artists including multi-instrumentalist Oren Ambarchi, Joe Stickney of Bear in Heaven, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm,[3] David Daniell, Doug McCombs, and others.[9] According to one report, Duncan worked as a singer songwriter for groups such as Tortoise and Grizzly Bear and collaborated with "top-tier musicians".[10] He plays numerous instruments including guitar, bass, Rhodes, melodica, synths, glockenspiel, drums, percussion, and harmonica as well as recording and mixing songs and singing.[11] He has taken a capella folk pop harmonies from the group Mountain Man and turned it into "electropop."[2] There is no consensus about what genre best describes the band's music, but it has been described by various reviewers as chillwave,[1] electropop,[2] alternative or indie folk,[3] goth rock[4] and others.
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Reviews of Duncan's music and the Warm Ghost sound have been mostly positive. Reviewer Todd Burns in Stylus Magazine described Duncan's music as "overwhelming pleasant" that was "a small slice of acoustic bliss, backed by warm organs and a belief in the type of listening that takes place over months, not cursory minutes."[12] Burns wrote that Duncan was "first and foremost a sound designer" rather than a "lyrics writer."[12] Reviewer Peter Funk in PopMatters found Duncan's album Be Careful What You Call Home to be "unselfconscious and organic" with "gentle tempos and melodicism" mixed with "layered electronic effects" and "found sounds."[11] Christian Carey in PopMatters described Duncan's music as "alt-folk" in an "appealing sound world" of "documented eclecticism."[3] Reviewer Joshua Love in Pitchfork wrote that Duncan's music departed from the chillwave style of artists such as Neon Indian and Washed Out because of Duncan's "sternly romantic voice" which helps give his music a "general smeary, indistinct aesthetic, which is possibly its most alluring strength."[1] A review on Weird Fishes described the Uncut Diamond album positively with "smooth vocals" with songs that are "beautiful and perplexing."[7] Reviewer Brad Knain in Hybrid Magazine described the Uncut Diamond album to be an "electronic treat" that "sounds almost like samples from Bladerunner mixed with The Breakfast Club soundtrack."[4] Reviewer Andrew Duncan from ZapTown Magazine wrote that the music was a "full sound of delightful synth delicacies that never over-cooks a style."[13] A review in ALTsounds described the music as "psychedelic electronic dream pop" which was driven by Duncan's vocal talent.[5] Reviewer Noel Murray in the A.V. Club described Duncan's third album Above The Trees to be a mix of "swooping strings with the rootsiness of banjo and steel guitar."[14] Reviewer Stephen Deusner in Pitchfork described Duncan's singing in the Trees album as a "low, wounded voice (that) barely registers the swells and fades of the music."[15] One slightly negative review from Erick Sermon in Music Nerdery described the Uncut Diamond album as an "An experimental clusterfuck of synth pop, cold wave and electronic sounds."[10] Reviewer Joe Tangari in Pitchfork described the album Be Careful What You Call Home as "subtle" with a "pleasant sensation" which "sucks you back for more spins" and hooks you on the third or fourth listen.[16]