Saturday, September 19, 2015

Followed By Ghosts - All Is Lost



Followed By Ghosts is a guitar based rock band that I heard on youtube.com that I really enjoyed. The band was recommended to me by youtube.com while I was listening to a long series of songs by Maybeshewill and God is an Astronaut. I believe the band to be in the same vein as those other two mentioned bands, since they are an instrumental band whose focus seems to revolve around the lead and rhythm guitar.

Style and guitars is not the only thing Followed By Ghosts has in common with Maybeshewill and God is an Astronaut, they also have awesome names for their albums and songs. Thus far they have released three albums, each with an awesome name:

- The Entire City Was Silent – 2007
- Dear Monsters, Be Patient – 2008
- Still, Here – 2011

Also with song titles, “Hymn of Twilight,” “A Mirthful Experience,” and my favorite “All is Lost,” give the band an epic feel even before you heard their hypnotic rhythm guitar and bass. Their last activity appears to be a 2014 single named after the band itself “Followed By Ghosts.” I suspect it is easier to give your band, album, and songs super fantastic names when no lyrics or other words get in the way, so instrumentals natural end up having the greatest names of all.

You can listen to every, or almost every, song by Followed By Ghosts at this site: https://followedbyghosts.bandcamp.com/ which is good because their primary site does not work.

It is very difficult to find a whole lot of information regarding the band Followed By Ghosts online. When consulting the “all human knowledge in one place device” better known as google.com, other than the bandcamp site mentioned above all I could find was Followed By Ghosts facebook and twitter profiles.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followedbyghosts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fbghosts

Twitter was the most informative; it has the band synopsis as “We are a band from Iowa,” okay that helps. Also we get this charming tweet from May 2nd of this year:


There was a long gap of time between that humorous tweet and the one prior to it, which I suppose means the boys from Iowa are having a hard time successfully living the rock and roll dream, but still, great respect for staying at it despite whatever is going on.

The first two albums were pretty close together chronologically and their third album “Still, Here” came out three years later, and considering the obscurity of this band, the inactivity on their social networking, and their current lack of output, I suspect the third album title is in reference to Followed By Ghosts continued existence more than anything. Nonetheless I am glad Followed By Ghosts exists, and I hope they continue to exist because I really like their music. Clearly they are an underappreciated band.

The song that has thus far stood out to me the most by Followed By Ghosts is “All is Lost.” The electric guitar speaks to my soul and this is a song that is focused on just that and I just love hearing the way those gentle note become a distorted wave as the song progresses. All of Followed By Ghosts songs are perfect white noise, there is a reason why I listen to so much music of this nature at work and when I am studying as it is the perfect combination of atmospheric and subtly emotional music. There are no words, literally, so the mind has the freedom to wander and invent any sort of connection with the moody sounds. “All Is Lost” seems like a sad song, but it is also an adventure of sorts, an exploration of some unknown wonderment, at least it is for me, that is where my mind goes.

It is hard to say much more, since there is so little to respond to or comment on, and maybe that is all the more reason people should be paying some small amount of attention to Followed By Ghosts. Of all the bands I have ever reviewed Followed By Ghosts may be the most obscure, the most in need of some fan support, and I hope they get it. For a “band from Iowa” and nothing more, they have made some fantastic instrumental songs.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

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