Premiere: Ghost Funk Orchestra, Night Walker (Digital LP)

In the month since Ghost Funk Orchestra premiered the Latin-funk-inspired single "Brownout" off of their full-length album Night Walker, those of us paying attention have been walking with altogether more soul, more swagger, and a overwhelming desire to hear more.

Night Walker doesn't let down. Pacing the album at a trim twenty minutes, Ghost Funk composer Seth Applebaum shows himself a master of creating instant, deeply felt moods, then letting them linger without overstaying their welcome. Each song breathes in differently, creating another sonic page in a short story about the psychic haunts of moving through the city at night. It's soulful at strokes, jazzy at others, funky throughout, and indelibly cool.

"Perhaps you feel that the nighttime is where it's at/But take heed of this warning I give you: Demons come out at night," Applebaum professes on "Demon, Demon." You have to escape the maddening heat of your apartment. But what, he asks, are you willing to pay for the chance to clear your mind?

Sounds like: smoke from the back booth at a dark and silent bar; Serge Gainsbourg in Rio; the echo of dark thoughts inside your head.

Pre-order the cassette as the first release on Ramble Records here.

But listen here first: