Ghost to Falco
like this forever
Strangely catchy and freedom affirming. Carefully crafted lyrics atop huge, lush avant arrangements. Urban isolation and desert-style expansion.
Anyone remotely familiar with aQ knows we've long had a soft spot for earthy, psych-tinged music that weaves its way along beautiful shadowy paths through the dewy glimmers and murky sludge. Well, here's something new that fits the bill and has been pleasing many an ear around here! We actually put a call out to these Portland, OR folks back in October to send some of their music down the coast. A few months have passed and here we are finally with cds in hand, and we think it was worth the wait! Heck, in the short time we've had Like This Forever in stock, in-store play has already been stirring up many many queries with at least one purchased each time it's spun.
Stormy waves of electric guitar distortion and reedy woodwinds crash upon one another, then melt into clear smooth bell chimes. Horns and piano also enter the fray that ebbs and flows around mainman Eric Crespo's emotive vocals... As you listen you get a sense that Crespo and co. may have been raised on a balanced diet of Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac as well as Pavement and Slint. Yes, all the most nutritious and tastiest food groups! Recommended.
-Aquarius Records (speaking of "like this forever")
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"...Have you heard how good Eric Crespo's lyrics are? Have you heard their newish art-noise-gone-pop songs?"
-The Portland Mercury
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"Swooping bass lines, feedback at odd intervals, slo-mo percussive riffs when the drums are playing, and the rare touch of horns--put like that, you might think it sounds like a bunch of gibbons loose in the studio, but Portland-based troubadour Eric Crespo manages to blend it all into a batch of sludge folk that alternately soothes and rattles the ears."
-Boise Weekly (from an album review of "like this forever")
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"Eric Crespo is the constant member of Ghost to Falco, a Portland band-a trio on this tour -specializing in morose beauty and curious emotion. From lush analog synth sounds to looped and minimal drones, the sounds on the new disc "Like This Forever" complement Crespo's pointed lyrics well."
-The Flagpole (Athens, GA)(Dec. 6, 2006 issue)
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"If the rock and indie camps have been increasingly segregated as of late, then this album could be the much needed catalyst to bring the two back together. Ghost to Falco singer/songwriter Eric Crespo seems comfortable in the role of composer of introspective lyrics, but also knows that heavy, cathartic rock ‘n’ roll is an important part of the emotional dynamic. Crespo’s rock is Neil Young circa After The Gold Rush, with huge choruses and guitar chords that transition into textured and delicate sections with layers of organ, xylophone, brass and wind instruments. It’s a recipe that is continuously intriguing throughout.
The first songs on the album, “Light in the Wind” and “Maupin,” gently ease the listener into Crespo’s world, giving a false sense that it will be a quiet, introverted album in the vein of Pinback or The Shins. Subtly, cymbal crashes build into a fit of noise joined by staccato acoustic guitar and human wailing that sounds like a painful exorcism. The song ends with Crespo’s bitter, scorned singing, “If there’s an escape then it begins with beliefs,” and a frustrated punk beat over open chords.
The strongest track is “The End,” which begins with a riff constructed of what sounds like a guitar being played backwards and punctuated with a stirring Young-esque harmonica lead. The drums are hard-hitting and aggressive and the cooing background vocals of the chorus make the lyrics, “When light will you come here,” all the more haunting and beautiful. The ghostly chorus appears louder over military drums on the next track, “Feared and Known.” The seventeen guest musicians that appear throughout add much depth and spontaneity to Crespo’s powerful folk-influenced compositions."
-Jake Rose
-West Coast Performer Magazine (Album review for "like this forever")
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Though Eric Crespo is, as he says, the one constant in Ghost to Falco, he's webbed in quite a cast these past few years, including Nick Delffs of Shaky Hands and Mike McKinnon of Wet Confetti. Not surprisingly, GTF's sound is just as expansive as its collection of band members. Expect a night of noisy art rock, clatters of nu jazz, and tangents into trancy and symphonically stormy experiments, all wrapped around grounded but ghostly whispers that catch Crespo in moments of peace and bitterness.-ANIKA SABIN
--The Willamette Week
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Portland's Ghost to Falco incorporates some lo-fi electronics into his unpredictable mix of post-folk and loopy experimentalism.
-The Seattle Stranger
Avant Garde: Modern Composition