To Repel Ghosts is due 2/18 via Static Blooms Records due Feb. 18
To Repel Ghosts is the debut album from Mexico City’s emerging noise pop unit, Howless. This is an album that grapples with big themes, an album that suggests nervous foreboding and strikes different levels of consciousness. 35 minutes of beautifully crafted noise pop, consisting of eight dynamic songs that perfectly represent the sonic depth and magnitude of Latin America’s newest indie darlings.
“Levels” is the lead single and the second track on the album; a crash intro of chimey guitar paired with arpeggiated synthesizers, and 808 tom fills, gives way to an up beat rhythm and hook, leading to a strong memorable chorus, revealing a strength of natural pop song writing. Quite easily a song that could have been included on the NME C86 mixtape with writing that was influenced by the lyrical meaning from “Goodbye Horses” by William Garvey. “Transcendence over those who see the world only as earthy and finite.”
“Rain and Ice” is the second single, a heavy low notation synth lead-in creates an atmospheric & moody staging for a recurring apocalyptic dream-theme. The track is sonically dark & also pushes in a heavier direction without losing melody or hookiness. Blistering guitar is brought to the front entwined with the languid duo vocals and elusive lyrics of Dominique Sanchez and Mauricio Tinejro. Beguiling yet distant, sustaining a dreamlike feeling, a punchy beat is the pulse that keeps the ghostly melodicism evoked until the end.
