The Revenant Authorities

The only rules when it comes to Deadman’s Ghost is that there are no rules.

Colin Carberry, 12 Apr 2012

The Broken Zoetrope, the debut album from Deadman’s Ghost, is a record nostalgic for a time when the future used to look forward.

With so many musicians now apparently content to pursue a timid, cookie cutter aesthetic, it’s wonderful to discover that Jason Mills, the writer/producer behind the project, prefers to mix up styles with Michelin Star élan.

Pastoral folkadelia nuzzles up to deep space jazz; subterranean beats hang out with their bigger, louder cousins – blimey, there’s even a metal riff or two lurking around and causing trouble.

It’s great, literate, soulful, and slightly unhinged stuff.

“It’s actually just a manifestation of my neurotic musical tastes,” says Jason. “People commented on the stylistic wanderlust of my last EP as well because it contained ukulele finger-picking, Space Rock and a spaghetti western blues jam, but for me it isn’t unnatural that these elements should co-exist. I learned the guitar playing grunge but then became interested in bands that had more of an unconventional approach to songwriting like Love, Porno For Pyros, Spiritualized, Mogwai, Jesu. When I hear something that resonates with me I don’t think, ‘Hmm, I wonder how I would categorise that in terms of genre’, I think, ‘I wonder if I can channel some of the energy from that into what I’m doing’.”

If the album is anything to go by, it’s an approach that reaps rich harvests. However, while the Deadman’s Ghost method seems to privilege the loose and organic (and the influence of acts such as Plaid – who Jason put on in Belfast during his days as a club promoter – can be clearly felt) both musically and lyrically there’s a steel here too.

Songs like ‘Pathos’, ‘All This Fleeting Magic’ and ‘An Unviewed Strip of Corroded Celluloid’ all hum with a barely audible, but barely ignorable anger. There’s politicised sulphur in the bones of these songs.

“Without wanting to sound like a pompous, waffling theorist, I feel like chaos permeates our lives,” Jason avers. “And it’s impossible not to be affected by it. It’s endemic in our natural systems and social structures. Just watching the news is a stark daily reminder of the volatility of everything – we all secretly know that we could be snuffed out by accident, illness or design in an instant. I’ve found that these topics aren’t always popular at parties though, so I stick them in my lyrics instead.”

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