It's been a few years since Toronto punk turned San Francisco-based psych-rocker Allyson Baker and her band Dirty Ghosts dropped their debut album Metal Moon, but Baker has been keeping busy with a handful of projects and just revealed plans for a pair of new Dirty Ghosts releases.
A new EP titled Cataract will arrive on July 24 via Burger Records, while a new full-length called Let It Pretend is due out this fall through Last Gang.
Since the 2012 release of Metal Moon, which was produced by her then-husband Aesop Rock, Baker has collaborated with !!!, Keley Stoltz and even remained on good enough terms with her former husband to play on his album Skelethon — but she's ready to thrust Dirty Ghosts back into the spotlight, albeit with a slightly revised lineup.
Baker and longtime friend Erin McDermott remain the only constant players, but have been joined by drummer Tony Sevener for the new offerings. Baker began writing material on her own, "listening to music and making demos every night."
But with the addition of Sevener, the process changed a bit. "Tony came in and got involved in the songwriting, making it more of a band," said Baker in a press release. "He taught me a lot about how to look at music from a pop perspective."
The result is a more focused kind of songwriting "that marries insistent, angular guitars to indelible hooks," embracing a poppier sound.
"I think the music you grew up listening to is something that stays with you forever," said Baker. "I think I've always repressed it. When I was a kid, Duran Duran were my world."
You can hear the band's fresh foray into pop territory on lead single "Cataract." Scroll past the tracklisting for the EP of the same name, as well as the forthcoming Let It Pretend LP, to give the new tune a spin in the player at the bottom of the page [via Stereogum].
Cataract EP:
1. Cataract
2. Witch Hunt
3. Quicksand Castle
4. Cataract (TOBACCO remix)
5. Ropes That Way (Mikey Young remix)
Let It Pretend:
1. Some Kids
2. Battery
3. Let It Pretend
4. Light Like Speed
5. Quicksand Castle
6. Cataract
7. Hologram
8. So Shallow
9. Siamese Dogs
10. Moving Pictures
A new EP titled Cataract will arrive on July 24 via Burger Records, while a new full-length called Let It Pretend is due out this fall through Last Gang.
Since the 2012 release of Metal Moon, which was produced by her then-husband Aesop Rock, Baker has collaborated with !!!, Keley Stoltz and even remained on good enough terms with her former husband to play on his album Skelethon — but she's ready to thrust Dirty Ghosts back into the spotlight, albeit with a slightly revised lineup.
Baker and longtime friend Erin McDermott remain the only constant players, but have been joined by drummer Tony Sevener for the new offerings. Baker began writing material on her own, "listening to music and making demos every night."
But with the addition of Sevener, the process changed a bit. "Tony came in and got involved in the songwriting, making it more of a band," said Baker in a press release. "He taught me a lot about how to look at music from a pop perspective."
The result is a more focused kind of songwriting "that marries insistent, angular guitars to indelible hooks," embracing a poppier sound.
"I think the music you grew up listening to is something that stays with you forever," said Baker. "I think I've always repressed it. When I was a kid, Duran Duran were my world."
You can hear the band's fresh foray into pop territory on lead single "Cataract." Scroll past the tracklisting for the EP of the same name, as well as the forthcoming Let It Pretend LP, to give the new tune a spin in the player at the bottom of the page [via Stereogum].
Cataract EP:
1. Cataract
2. Witch Hunt
3. Quicksand Castle
4. Cataract (TOBACCO remix)
5. Ropes That Way (Mikey Young remix)
Let It Pretend:
1. Some Kids
2. Battery
3. Let It Pretend
4. Light Like Speed
5. Quicksand Castle
6. Cataract
7. Hologram
8. So Shallow
9. Siamese Dogs
10. Moving Pictures
