No:Carrier
Ghosts of the West Coast
(Electric Heresy)
Trying a little too hard to make things spooky and ethereal on their opening remake of Don Henley’s “Boys Of Summer,†still instrumentalist Chris Wirsig of the duo No:Carrier attempts to clue us all in with a specific sound on his band’s new album, Ghosts of the West Coast. Belinda Carisle’s “California†fares better with a big electro snare-like snap, drippy keys, Melissa Harding singing, and the big atmosphere swishes and tribal toms that work behind the clunk of a remake of Tony Carey’s “Room With A View†just perfectly. Carrie’s other band member, Cynthia Wechselberger takes lead vocals on the last song here, “She Moved Through the Fair.†Her voice is the most expressive I feel of all the vocalists here. (You have to tip your hat to a band’s lead vocalist who agrees to a concept where her band actually features other lead vocalists for three or of four songs on an EP!) “She Moved Through the Fair†sees Wirsig working his layered best with real stirring key maneuvers and some interesting blurps and bleats under Cynthia as she works her voice around this traditional Irish song. Not all of Ghosts of the West Coast works even though No:Carrier are taking from a wide range of tunes to cover – stuff just tends to sound the same across these few tunes, save for the last one. However, I like Chris Wirsig’s production and think Wechselberger has expressive, strong pipes.
