Unread Pages - Ghost Faces

Hear The Track Here

Although it looks like Unread Pages have been around on Soundclick since 2006, this is the first I have come across this Sydney, Australia based artist. So let me state right off the bat that I have a liking for Antipodean musicians, especially of the rock variety, because they do tend to be as adventurous musically as us whiny Poms. Yep, biased much? Unread Pages veers between yer standard instumentation and electronica and Ghost Faces falls squarely into the gaps between the two genre. 'Sort of like Bjork meets the Cistercian monks' Unread Pages says on the song comments and I see the monkish connection right enough, but the Elvish One still escapes me.

As I was downloading the track I noticed that UP (a one man band obviously) was also interested in cosmology and quantum mechanics which definitely endeared him to me because its an area I have great fascination with. However, getting my head out of the clouds, music is what this about and Ghost Faces is a very smart peice of music indeed. The musical track is effective, clear and slightly jazzy in feel, rolling the track forward rather than propelling it. There is a synth sequence that repeats throughout the track that adds to the feeling too, and for my money, is one of the highlights of the track.

The main highlight has to be those monkish (elvish whatever) vocals, and the fact that it isn't the monkish voices you may expect from my description of the music. Most of us would expect the time honoured Monk samples that are everywhere - thanks to their proliferation, it has modernised a very old sound. Nope, in this case, Unread Pages supplies his own vocals, pitching them in such a way that the sound and quality is definitely wearing a rough brown cassock. It also shows a rare intelligence at work, and one I will definitely be keeping an eye on in the future.

Excellent song, very eclectic sound. Highly Recommended.