Just a year after their intricate and often challenging debut, Brooklyn trio
Celestial Shore return with
Enter Ghost, a decidedly more accessible and focused release. Whereas 2013's
10x seemed like a rapid-fire assault of shifty time signatures and over-educated ideas,
Enter Ghost tones down the music-school theory in favor of crafty, tuneful pop that still defies easy categorization. Falling somewhere between
Pixies' Bossa Nova-era alt-surf aspirations and the autumnal pop of
the Zombies'
Odessey and Oracle,
Celestial Shore deliver a mysterious set that is both beguiling and demanding. Standouts "Gloria" and "Weekenders" showcase the group's newly emphasized focus on melodic pop songcraft, while cuts like "Creation Myth" and "Same Old Cult Story" see them continuing to run amok in the same left-field world as
Dirty Projectors and former tutors/tourmates
Deerhoof. Even with its more experimental leanings,
Enter Ghost is a major step forward for the talented threesome. [
Enter Ghost was also released on LP.] ~ Timothy Monger