New York band Ghost Funk Orchestra, led by multi-instrumentalist architect Seth Applebaum, has esoteric arrangements in its repertoire that call to mind great movie scores from analog eras. Ever since 2019’s kick-in-the-door debut album A Song For Paul, designed as a eulogy to Applebaumʻs late grandfather, the group’s psychedelic rock arrangements—especially, the ones featuring jazz-fusion charts and bold-yet-strange chord progressions—have made the 10-to-11 member band’s output a wild sweaty event for all the senses.
The most recent GFO offering, A New Kind of Love, stays retro for sure. That’s in keeping with what has always made the group great—we’re talking aural call-backs to avant-pop and experimental jazz composers like David Axelrod, Quincy Jones, and Lalo Schifrin. Previous releases have been flush with colorful song titles–yes I am talking about GFO’s “Walk Like a Motherf*cker,” and be sure to say it with a Jules Winnfield cadence, motherf*cker. Then as now, the group’s acuity when it comes to lining up classical tendencies across electrified horizons puts the Karma Chief Records (a sublabel of Colemine Records, home to Bay-Area based Monophonics) band into a different category. Stunning.
But the latest album delves into affairs of the heart both good and bad, and features nuanced, balanced arrangements. Vocalists Christine Chanel, Megan Sarason, and Romi Hanoch get airy and pointed, drawing the listener in as much as those brassy horns that illuminate the LP’s songs, from its peevish moments to its headstrong struts. Applebaum has activated the shock and awe value—and not just in terms of obscene song titles—this time.
“Prism,” the third song in, is a vision that advances down a flute path, gets decorated with enunciated “aah’s” from Mancini, chamber bells, and finely orchestrated choral patterns. The elements turn this library music into a slow cruise while wearing shades. The drum machine samba of “A Song For Pearl” sees us off into calm waters with baritone sax assurances, just before “Bluebell” and the stellar “Rooted” turn lounge arrangements into big-room anthems designed for communal enjoyment.
In the past, GFO could be the meeting point on a Venn diagram where Budos Band, Khruangbin, and Stereolab aficionados would meet up, compare notes, and possibly grab fish tacos. But the arrangements on A New Kind of Love carry a home-style social component, one that can bring them from the performance hall to your own backyard.
Buy A New Kind of Love here.
