Pophouse of Horror

Trudging through the shadows after a Halloween party circa 1985 lurks a soundtrack that paints as many pictures as Explosion in the Sky does with high school football dramas. The aptly named Marshmallow Ghosts hock 12 tracks to keep you from stepping outside on October 31st.

The quintet’s eponymous release starts off with a couple of ambient pieces (“Séance at Murder Tract,” “Shrieks,” “Creaks”) in the same vein as Tim Hecker or even The Fun Years – spooky, over-reverberated sounds that sound like someone took running nails across a chalkboard a little too far (in a good way). “Pig Man’s Bridge” and “Trick” are little pop ditties yearning to be put in a Tim Burton flick; let’s call the movie “Brian Eno’s Christmas,” and it will star Johnny Depp as the bald, British soundscape artist.

It’s refreshing to listen to an album so deeply rooted in post-rock/ambient influences without actually wanting to be in the post-rock/ambient lexicon: there are no elongated climaxes and it still manages to retain a sliver of pop sensibility. Teetering the edge of niche genres is a great starting point for promising acts.