P:ANO
Ghost Pirates Without Heads
Mint Records
· Aaaaaaaargh. Victoria’s orchestral darlings hit the high seas in search of buried pop treasure.
A fairly standard album, P:ano’s Ghost Pirates Without Heads offers very little that is unexpected or ultra-rewarding. The first two records by P:ano, When It’s Dark and It’s Summer and The Den, were inspired, unique, captivating and clearly demonstrated the future of orchestral pop. Their album Brigadoon, released earlier this year, took them to a new level by continuing many of those traits within the unified and mystically themed tracks.
While some of Ghost Pirates’ songs, like "Enchanted Forest," work individually, the album sounds like a kindergarten singalong, which might be very sweet, but in this case is not very engaging. Rhythm sticks and clarinet prevail as the primary instruments in these 26 minutes, and with the vocals fairly low in the mix, there is a tendency to focus on those sounds instead of the songs as a whole. A minimalist effort could be a wonderful success after something as conceptual and complex as Brigadoon, but unfortunately, Ghost Pirates Without Heads sounds like 11 songs that didn’t make the cut earlier in P:ano’s discography.
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