Sing A Weary Song

Ghost Funk Orchestra “Modern Scene”

Ghost Funk Orchestra make a jazzy sort of psychedelic rock that I suppose is essentially nostalgic in its major debt to ’60s recordings, but the actual music feels disconnected from any particular time or place, as it’s really just bandleader Seth Applebaum piecing together an imagined past from scraps of old music he finds beautiful and interesting. (As a collector of old magazines, I feel like I’m recognizing some common instincts.) Their new record A Song for Paul has an aesthetic kinship with Broadcast in their The Noise Made By People phase – the music sounds “accurate,” but there’s a slight implied ironic distance and enough modern touches to keep it from seeming like a replica. The most noticeable difference is in the vocal performance, which signals “indie” more than “60s” and contrasts with the more obviously retro funk psychedelia elements like a neon green stripe through a black and white photograph.

Buy it from Bandcamp.