Album Review: Ghost Funk Orchestra Launch into Orbit With ‘A Trip to the Moon’
Music can be powerful in a variety of ways, and one of those ways is its ability to take whoever is listening to a different place. This could be in a mental sense where it changes a person’s view on an issue or a subject, or it could be more existential where it has visuals popping up in one’s head that convey a multi-dimensional world. While abiding by the theme of space travel, New York psychedelic soul act Ghost Funk Orchestra bring forth the latter effect with their fifth release A Trip to the Moon that’s out today (February 23) via Colemine Records. Like the collective’s previous releases, it has composer, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum employing the talents of stellar musicians and vocalists to create fantastic sounds.
If you’re a fan of ’60s Motown and ’70s funk, then Ghost Funk Orchestra is a band you should start listening to if you haven’t already. The horns exude vibrant tones while the drums, bass, guitars and other instruments craft structures that are guaranteed to excite the senses. The vocals are the icing on the musical cake with the sonic cohesiveness being consistent and fluid. There’s a psychedelic edge encompassing all of this, which makes complete sense for taking on a space-age concept. The interludes of astronaut transmissions in between the songs give sustenance to this particular vision as well.
It needs to be mentioned that A Trip to the Moon consists of 15 tracks, so when you give this a listen, I suggest that you either make time to do so or just have it flow through the speakers of your car stereo or your home audio set up while you’re running errands or doing chores. With it being such a long-running record, there are numerous gems within the track listing. These include “Eyes of Love”, “Helios”, “Space Walk” and “Totality”. For the first two, Megan Mancini takes on the lead vocal duties while Romi Hanoch backs her up, Billy Aukstik plays the trumpet, Stephen Chen lends his talents on the baritone sax, James Kelly performs the trombone and Mike Sarason provides the finishing touches via the flute. For the latter two, Aukstik, Chen and Kelly round out the instrumentals for “Space Walk” while Will Marshall contributes to “Totality” with his violin and viola.
If you haven’t noticed already, Ghost Funk Orchestra’s new album has a lot going on with it. It’s really good artistically, sonically and musically and I highly suggest that anyone should check it out. To do so, click on the link below and begin exploring distant places among the planets and the stars.
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