London duo Ghost of Panama dropped their incredible debut album back in April, and it hasn’t really left my queue since it landed on my radar last week. Keith Welham and Cristabel Liu have this cool, late-80s post-punk energy going on, but the production feels firmly planted in the present day.
What got me hooked is the actual flow of the tracks. The whole record follows the messy, realistic lifecycle of a relationship, starting off in a cramped, stuck place before moving through all that heavy guilt and indecision. Most bands make those themes sound exhausting, but they pull it off by balancing heavier, sweeping tracks like “Siberia” with genuinely catchy pop moments. “Damage” and “Ghost of Your Perfume” stand out right away.
They recorded most of this in a small West London studio, throwing in odd found sounds recorded around the city. On “Half-Life”, they completely ditched standard drums for breathing sounds and a ticking Geiger counter, which sounds wild through headphones. By the time you reach the final track, “North Star”, the whole moody atmosphere lifts into something surprisingly hopeful. It gives the record a proper, satisfying conclusion after all the bleakness before it.
If you dig indie music that takes risks, give this album a listen on your favorite platform and make sure to follow them on Instagram to catch their upcoming updates.
Follow Ghost of Panama: Instagram – Spotify
