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Carter - A Ghost Running Through Shadows

Lary Rogers | June 24, 2014

One dude made all this music.  One dude, and his name isn't even Carter. A Ghost Running Through Shadows, the debut effort from Matthew Rauch, demonstrates this kid's incredible musical chops.  The previous sentence feels slightly ironic, as my first impression of the EP was "Typical alternative fare - the kind of thing I've been listening to since the 80’s, when alternative was, in fact, alternative."  Rauch's more than serviceable vocals have that "alternative" feel of no training, and trying just a smidgen too hard.  Don't get me wrong, it's the appropriate voice for the songs and music - the sound 

hangs together very well - That was the first listen.

 

I've since given A Ghost Running Through Shadows a few more listens, and it's quite a catchy collection of tunes.  My first impression generally stands, but the execution certainly is good enough that the tunes will remain in my rotation for a few more weeks, for sure.

 

The opening track "Forget Myself" demonstrates that, despite the claims on the website, Rauch did receive some help on these tunes.  A second voice harmonizes nicely on the very catchy chorus.  The tune as a whole is a short ditty of vocals and acoustic guitar.

 

"All This Time" opens up Rauch's considerable arsenal of sounds and skills.  I can distinguish guitars, drums, some strings, and keyboard/piano all playing, nicely supporting Rauch's rather plaintive-sounding lyrics.  Solid and quite enjoyable sounds.

 

"Steps" returns to a more simple sound, albeit more complex than "Forget Myself" - drums are added to the acoustic guitar and vocals.  The song's climax features some nice engineering, with the vocals being overlapped and woven together to sound a lot more complex than simply one or two guys belting out, "I believe!" repeatedly.

 

"Seven Times Two" is probably the most radio-friendly of the tunes, but also features Rauch's most "alternative" sound, both vocally and musically.  I still haven't sussed out the meaning of "Seven Times Two Equals You," but it sure is catchy.  This one's going on my phone for future listening.

 

"Wish I Was" is a nicely layered and complex bit of tunage.  If MTV still played music, the video for this song would feature an attractive woman contemplatively walking through a field, with Rauch/Carter playing in the same field, utterly ignored by the woman.  It's a rather slow tune, but yearning beyond anything the other four songs could possibly muster.  It is very easy to see this becoming some emo kid's most favorite song for quite a long time.  The "Wish I Was" is only part of the nearly pathetic "God I Wish I was something to someone" line that is repeated several times, most notably being the very last line of the song and the EP.

 

Overall, a pretty good collection, definitely something I can recommend to anyone who enjoys real "alternative" music the way it used to be.

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