Popestar

by Ghost

Overview

The second EP from the macabrely debonair Swedes, Popestar finds Ghost parsing through their vestment-black Rolodex and pulling out a compelling five-track set that pairs their most commercial-sounding original offering to date with a quartet of equally earworm-heavy covers. If "Square Hammer" is indicative of what's to come after 2015's Grammy Award-winning Meliora, then fans are likely to find themselves continuing to wrestle with whether or not Ghost is a pop band disguised as Satan's little helpers or the sonic incarnation of the great trickster itself. Flush with hooks and sounding for all the world like a mashup of Savage Amusement-era Scorpions and peak Blue Oeyster Cult, it's a bold blast of rock radio might, and it acts as the perfect setup for the sugary, witches cauldron-brewed stew that follows. A faithful albeit hammer of the gods-heavy rendering of Echo & the Bunnymen's "Nocturnal Me" kicks things off, followed by a deconstructed, goth-tastic take on Simian Mobile Disco's "I Believe" and a winking, UFC montage-disposed reading of Eurythmics' "Missionary Man," but Ghost save the best for last. "Bible," an ecclesiastical late-'80s power ballad from Stockholm alt-rock giants Imperiet, is shown great respect, and suggests that Papa Emeritus and his nameless ghouls may have honed their dark arts via air guitars and toothbrush microphones in front of their bedroom mirrors, emulating its muscular stadium pageantry. That is, until a sinister voice-over, which does not appear in the original version, chimes in at the end with "I will wipe from the face of the earth this human race I have created," effectively tamping down the coffin lid on whatever sorry bit of salvation the track's previous owners had managed to conjure. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	09/16/2016
Label:	Loma Vista
UPC:	0888072015166
Rank:	3648

Tracks

1. Square Hammer
2. Nocturnal Me
3. I Believe
4. Missionary Man
5. Bible

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ghost   Primary Artist
Brian Reed   Harmonica
Sofia Kempe   Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Markus Crona   Assistant
Les Pattinson   Composer
Pete de Freitas   Composer
Jas Shaw   Composer
Dave Stewart   Composer
Annie Lennox   Composer
Niels Nielsen   Engineer,Programming
Will Sergeant   Composer
Tom Dalgety   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Simon Lord   Composer
Joakim Thastroem   Composer
Tom Whalley   A&R
James Ford   Composer,Composer
Joe LaPorta   Mastering
Mikael Eriksson   Package Design
Ryan Whalley   A&R
Fred Asp   Composer
Per Haegglund   Composer
A Ghoul Writer   Composer
Nicholas Johansson   A&R
Papa Emeritus III   Selection
David M. Brinley   Artwork
Ian McCulloch   Composer
Christian Falk   Composer