Obaro Ejimiwe is still sleepless and sounds every bit the part on the fifth Ghostpoet album, his first since 2017's Dark Days + Canapés. Lethargy and lack of projection notwithstanding, he's cognizant enough to transmit his ever-harrowing thoughts, wishing for death, quoting pro-Brexit demonstrators, and acknowledging "I was once your Superman, now I'm just bones" with mystifying impassivity. Sour paralysis is conveyed in almost every track, whether the target is narcissism, materialism, or racism. The energy increases only when Ejimiwe is at his most defiant on "Nowhere to Hide Now" (with the returning Delilah Holliday providing whispered background vocals) and the title song, the only cut that could be termed a rocker, as all else crawls and slinks. Even with its uneasy strings and variety of keyboards, the sound is starker in comparison to the previous Ghostpoet LP. It's less reliant upon electronics with a stronger emphasis on the razor-sharp interplay between drummer Fabian Prynn and bassist Tom Herbert -- both holdovers from the previous album -- and guitarist Benjamin Markham, who breaks occasionally from circular and shadowy supporting rhythms to deal out liberally reverbed lashings. While the album's cover deliberately recalls Henry Fuseli's The Nightmare, it wouldn't look out of place between copies of Joy Division's Closer and Associates' Sulk. Like those two post-punk touchstones, I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep has a despairing seductive power.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo