THE GHOST MOON ORCHESTRA

Strangely enough no review has been posted yet for 'The ghost moon orchestra', the latest rendition by Mostly Autumn. Strangely because this prolific band from Yorkshire has built up a huge following over the last years and rightly so. They even survived the departure of their eye- and earcatching vocalist and songwriter Heather Finlay by replacing her with the evenly eye- and earcatching Olivia Sparnenn, for most fans the best choice they could make bacuse she was already part of the band. But of course it is the music that makes the band. And is it good enough? TGMO is, in my opinion, by no means near to their splendid, symphonic and folky first albums like 'All we shared' or 'The last bright sky'. Following the line of the last few albums this is another rocky album with most of the time up-tempo songs on which Bryan Josh takes much of the lead vocals. Which is also my first main criticism: he can sing, he has a rather good voice but he will always stand in the shadow of Olivia or even Ann-Marie Helder (backing vocalist here, lead vocalist in Panic Room). Why doesn't he step down a bit and leaves the vocals to the ladies? Another problem I have with this album is the overall sound of the songs. It simply doesn't stand out, to me they sound like another rock album with some female lead vocals. The unique sound of Mostly Autumn, with flute and folk instruments accompanied by fierce guitar solos, has almost completely vanished. What remains are nice songs to listen to with beautiful guitar solos for sure but actually not much special. The inclusion of Troy Donockley is great but too little. My third problem is a minor one but at the same time a remakable one. At the end of the title song, which is a nice song, the music fades out far to quickly and then, out of the blue, there is one keyboard chord emerging, almost dissonant to my ears. Then the song has ended. I dislike it very much, it sounds as if the producer tries to make up for the far too quick fading out. It's really akward. In conclusion, it is again a nice album. It is, again, not a very special album. I enjoy it but I don't get thrilled. And that is a bit disappointing from a band that I rank amongst my all time favourites.