dear everybody,
thank you. our album is becoming a huge success, more than any of us could even have thought possible.
after selling almost 1/4 of our copies in our first week, just at school, our minds were blown. now we have our first review,
online sales, many, many compliments, and a growing fan base. our record will even be reviewed by post-rock gurus
the silent ballet.to everybody that has bought a cd, thank you so much. to everybody that has been to one of our shows, thank you so much. to everybody that told a friend to check us out, thank you so much. we love you.
we also owe a special thanks to the guys from
GIANTS. they have done a lot to help us out and basically be our older brother. (they also have a kickass new song, check it out)
here is our first print review:
Followed By Ghosts first album release breaks the silence.by KATE BELL.
Keeping with the theme of local bands, this month I will discuss one that hits a little closer to home. Followed By Ghosts, a five-piece instrumental group, is comprised entirely of W-SR students, some of which you may recognize from your own classes. These remarkably talented musicians are seniors Daniel Payne and Jordan Bancroft-Smithe, juniors David Maixner and Evan Campbell, and Kyle Miller, who graduated in 2006.
They have gathered quite a following not just of Waverly students, but also from the surrounding area. They even have some professional coverage to their name in the form of a full-page spread in the Waverly Democrat newspaper in late July of this year.
Their new album, The Entire City Was Silent, was released on October 10, and was just as warmly greeted as the new Radiohead album, which came out the same day. On the first listen, you would not think that it was produced by a bunch of teenagers, but by a professional band. Granted it was mixed, in sort, professionally, but the bulk of it was homemade with the help of audio recording guru and fellow student, Sam Dorrance.
But the most interesting thing about this album, production-wise, is that instead of being recorded in a studio, these guys recorded in two Waverly churches; St. Mary's Catholic Church and The Wartburg Chapel. If you listen closely, especially durning the quiet parts, you can tell. Sound lingers and fills in the spaces, giving it an airy feel. This atmosphere is part of what makes this album sound so powerful.
Each of the seven songs follows a pattern similar to waves, dipping in and out of quiet and relatively calm sections, then building into swells of noise that are sometimes majestic and transcendent and other times driving and vigorous. You can hear each instrument distinctly, but at the same time they are fused into one, complete sound. The entire album flows together along this same model, with different musical phrases repeated throughout.
If you are one of those who prefer lyrics to melodies and rhythm, you would soon grow weary of the Entire City Was Silent, but for the rest of us, it is the lack of verses that holds our interest. When there are no words to tell a story, we try to create a tale to match the music. Every song could be a part of a film score, as dramatic and moving as each one is.
And in my opinion, none are as dramatic or moving as the title track, the last song of the album. After the piano fades out on the previous track, we suddenly hear studio noise. Laughter, equipment being moved, doors opening, and closing, and bits of conversation all bring us out of the trance we have immersed ourselves in and into the world behind the music, the world of the people who create it. The piano is heard clearly over all of this, and the noise soon evaporates, making way for Payne to utter the only real words on the album, a short poem written by Megan Cotter. Bancroft-Smithe and junior Eric Fagre enter in on violin and cello, respectively. Before long, we begin hearing voices, but no lyrics, just a wordless chorus. Here the acoustics of the church are finally realized for what they are, reverberating and ambient, as opposed to the condensed and somewhat constricted sounds of a studio.
Everything blends together seamlessly, creating an ethereal atmospheric sound that is unique to that track exclusively. It follows the same pattern as the rest of the album, building and building into one great wall of sound, seeming to lift us upward. The piano accelerates, intensifying the effect, and becomes the predominant sound. Then the great tumult suddenly halts and all that is left is echoes and the piano, now slow and soft. It truly is an inspiring and beautiful way to end an album, and it is not until then that there is silence.
For more information on or a sample of Followed By Ghosts' music, visit myspace.com/followedbyghosts. I strongly advise you to support these guys and buy a copy of the album.
Albums Can be purchased directly from band members or at several stores in the area, which include Mohair Pear, Bob's Guitars, Meyer Pharmacy, and the Music Box.
(included are two photographs of live shows.)
again, thank you so much.
sincerely,
followed by ghosts.