GHOSTS I'VE MET Featuring players from Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney, Sparklehorse and Actual Tigers, Ghosts I've Met is composed mostly of former Seattleites, some of whom now live in Brooklyn. The group's contemplative, melancholy tunes never descend into nostalgia or self-pity—fitting for a band that requires a cross-country trip just to practice together. Though never officially released, the album the band recorded at Kitty Wells' studio in 2005 garnered significant airplay on venerable Seattle indie station KEXP. They retuned to Wells' studio a few months ago and recorded another record, providing fodder for this cross-country tour, the band's first. Though sometimes compared to Ryan Adams, Ghosts I've Met eschew the mercurial troubadour's erratic flashes of listenability in favor of an even, expansive sound that nearly always succeeds in its intentions. If the alt-country scene is a house party, Ghosts I've Met aren't the drunk guy in the lampshade. Rather, they're the quiet guy in the corner spinning fascinating yarns for anyone with the attention span to listen. —BEN WESTHOFF