Holiday Ghosts make their FatCat Records debut with their third album,
North Street Air, so-named for a main thoroughfare in Brighton, England following a move from Falmouth. Rejiggering their lineup again, it features dual lead singers Sam Stacpoole and Katja Rackin, along with returning member Charlie Murphy, who had a hand in writing the songs. Various guests including prior bandmembers also contributed to the set. Without relinquishing any of their loose, garage-inspired personality or their working-class spirit, the album finds the group settling into a jangly folk-punk sound less reliant on surf tones but still stylistically varied. Tales of local characters, street scenes, and struggles populate songs like the anxious title track, with its deadpan unison vocals and implied horse clops, and opener "Mr. Herandi," which air grievances about a shady landlord with a laid-back, more-tuneful folk. Contrasting that is an urgent, electrified second track, "Off Grid," an album highlight that includes a driving bassline, churning guitars, and vintage organ, as the singers unload about working life. Things take a punkier turn on tracks like "Blood Orange" and, to a lesser degree, the confrontational "Total Crisis," while "Told My Baby" offers a spirited country diversion replete with twangy guitar solo. Throughout these stylistic turns,
Holiday Ghosts never sound like anyone but themselves, trying them on like hats in a hat shop rather than delivering a new wardrobe. Also consistent is the fact that while lyrics address real-life frustrations ("I'm getting really tired/Of being fired/From what I wish I'd never tried"), the songs are always a good time. ~ Marcy Donelson