This needs to be prefaced somehow but I’ll make it as clear as can be. The Nashville outfit Palm Ghosts has had a busy year. Since May, the band has been dropping its EP releases Façades 1- Escape, Façades 2 – Masks, Façades 3 – Channeling, and now its final Façades 4 – Decoder (Poptek/Sweet Cheetah). Palm Ghosts has been pretty stringent with its schedule and now has taken all four of its Eps, releasing them all today as a double album. All its releases are tied together, themes explored in variations from religion, cults, love, & loss but  Palm Ghosts remains unequivocally true to itself. While there are semblances of the band’s nostalgic feel, the group has evolved, keeping itself footed firmly within the present. But Palm Ghosts will never relinquish its disposition to nostalgia, which can be heard indirectly with “When We Were Young And Life Was Beautiful.” It’s a journey, riding a keyboard wash, fingers nimbly stroking guitar notes, with dreamy vocals layered on top. It’s hypnotic, drenched in beauty. The group moves in a different direction altogether with the balladesque “Aftermath,” led by piano and filled with airy backing vocals. Palm Ghosts is definitely onto something and the radiance shines brightly through its music.

GHOST ARCADIA – WHAT WE BECOME EP  

The more we change, the more we remain the same. For some reason, I thought I was thrown back in time but I don’t own a hot tub time machine, although having one right about now would be pretty awesome. At this point, I’m sure you’re questioning what I’m referencing or even why the past seems so griping. It actually isn’t but for some reason, there are many that are a part of a revival, and it’s not always a good thing.

The UK’s Ghost Arcadia just released its What We Become EP, which consists of four songs but I’m not sure why the band would choose to delve in deep into Nu Metal. Yeah, I said it. Ghost Arcadia moves as if its on music fest bill opening for Evanescence, P.O.D., Linkin Park, etc. Yes, yes, yes, we’re all quite aware that comparisons are cheap but right now all I’m holding is a buck fifty and these corporations keep raising prices so much, I can barely afford to listen to anything. But this is the soundwave the quartet rides on with over-the-top guitars and occasional rapped lyricism with dramatic rhythms. Take for example, “Cyclone” with stop-starts that will quickly remind anyone of 2003’s “Bring Me To Life.” I keep waiting for Amy Lee’s vocal part, “Wake me up inside/save me from the nothing I’ve become” although it never comes. Daredevil this ain’t. But it gets better (or worse, depending on your perspective.)

With “Stray” we get the same sort of dynamics with a raging angst-filled vocal delivery as melodies run rampant and never deter you from being just as volatile alongside it. Rage, rage, against the dying of the light! While “Under” is a bit more ethereal, that same power in song structure is prevalent throughout it. The band ends with its piano-driven title track, which is a change of pace but still remains identifiably Ghost Arcadia…or any other group you’d like to associate them with.

Don’t get me wrong, What We Become isn’t bad but it’s dated and much like the genre these songs are umbrellaed under, won’t age well and for a dwindling audience.

CAMPUS CHRISTY – S/T

There isn’t much room left within my headspace and after listening to Campus Christy, a new project by multi-instrumentalist Brian Ellis (Egyptian Lover) and vocalist Chris Manak (a/k/a Peanut Butter Wolf!), I’m not sure how much more I can take. Now the pop music that surrounds Campus Christy’s self-titled release (Stones Throw) is a definitive departure from Peanut Butter Wolf’s Hip Hop origins, more aligned with the early works of groups like Kings Of Convenience, Masters Of The Hemisphere, and a few other Kindercore acts. At this point, no, please no.