Rituals

About

When Nicolas Fromageau left M83 back in 2004, that band went on to fairly well-traveled pop territory while Fromageau took some time crafting his new musical persona. Perhaps partly in answer to M83's frothiness, Team Ghost took on a darker, more opaque mystique. Its music seemed born of an inter-genre marriage: a whiff of electro-pop here, a wash of shoegaze there, with gauzy wrappings and experimental ribbons of texture tying things up rather neatly. TG's full-length debut, <i>Rituals</i>, shakes things up, opening with the surprisingly guitar-heavy "Away"—a number that unfurls and billows with an Explosions in the Sky style of drama. That surprise continues with "Curtains," an energetic tune hammering out brittle synth lines and Sonic Youth–inspired guitar noise. That raucous side of TG continues on infectious tracks like "Dead Film Star" and "Fireworks," but elsewhere—as on "Broken Dreams" and "Things Are Sometimes Tragic"—ambient electronics prevail. Fromageau's balancing act is well done. Sparkling pop gems like "Montreuil" are buried treasure, the offspring of Team Ghost's genre-mating tricks.

via Apple Music