TEAM GHOST: -Rituals- ALBUM RELEASE: 15.03.13 [W-Sphere/Indigo]

For years, there has been a multitude of amazing and great electronic music from Europe, but for a while now, no swirling, loud guitars combined with it! Now it is finally time for these two directions from TEAM GHOST to merge again into a blend of atmospheric synth textures, as Tangerine Dream or Brian Eno have shown us, combined with razor-sharp indie rock in the style of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. Nicolas Fromageau always intended this, and with the founding of TEAM GHOST in 2009, the vision became a reality!

In 2004, he ended his enviable role as one half of M83, moved on to new musical steps, and additionally, the singer, guitarist, and producer moved from sunny Antibes on the French Riviera to gloomy Paris, indulging his preference for dark, gothic-enhanced, and atmospheric sound textures. “When I left M83, I had no idea what I really wanted,” explains Nicolas, “but I knew I wanted to be a professional musician. So I took my time to experiment to find out what kind of music I wanted to make. I believe that Team Ghost is even darker than M83, as I like bands like Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, among others, and let myself be influenced by them. I’m just trying to create a new sound and not a second M83.”

The core of the band formed about two years ago with the addition of Christophe Guérin on guitar and vocals, Felix Delacroix on drums, and Pierre Blanc on bass, alongside the art director and “phantom” member Jean-Philippe Talaga. The group quickly attracted great attention in France and abroad, playing as the opening act for the duo Crystal Castles on their European tour by personal invitation and receiving continuous acclaim from Pitchfork, the online magazine that guides the Electro/EBM/Dark scene.

After the ethereal, transcendent sound of their two EPs – “I Never Did Anything Wrong To You” and “Celebrate What You Can't See”, which were recorded at home and released by the legendary London label Sonic Cathedral, the debut album “Rituals” is now the first album musically completed with French producer Benoît de Villeneuve on guitar/vocals/keyboards and also recorded in the studio for the first time. The band’s typical “Coldgaze” is sonically more refined - an artfully poppy punch to the gut, compared to the rather nebulous mood of the EPs!

“I think that was a natural evolution,” says Nicolas. “Somehow we’re trying to make experimental pop songs. Actually, we like pop music - that’s why most of the tracks on the album are quite short and snappy. The goal was to mix the raw life energy of a band with the precision of a synthesized landscape,” adds Benoît. “Nicolas and I worked hard in my own studio to record many different sounds, synths, and textures. Once we were done, we went into the studio and recorded the full band while listening to the previously recorded tracks through headphones. But it was really easy. We were amazed. It could have also turned into a true nightmare!” Although the recordings were fluid, one would be reluctant to label the shadowy, anti-utopian interior landscape of “Rituals” as such.

Smoldering, electronic tracks like “Away” and “Broken Devices” seem to inhabit a frosty urban landscape of the future, reminiscent of a JG Ballard novel, colored by ambient synthesizer sounds that ebb like the oily Seine. In “Curtains” and in the first single “Dead Film Star,” the guitars turn into discordant indie pop gems, and “Somebody's Watching” mixes sexual, voyeuristic lyrics with the kind of heavenly choir that Popol Vuh used for the soundtrack of Werner Herzog’s deranged film “Aguirre.”

“Songs have to engage your imagination,” says Benoît, “the past, the future, machines, nature…” “And I wrote the perverse stuff,” laughs Nicolas. Paris seems to have musically influenced the entire band. With all its pop smarts, “Rituals” could be a nocturnal travelogue of an excursion into the darkness of the French capital, exploring unhealthy obsessions, vices, and digital dysfunction under the faded charm of the grand boulevards of the city. Nicolas sums up the effect of Paris quite succinctly: “We are poor. We are cold. Shit, I want to retreat to the French Riviera!” “With “Rituals,” I hope we can tour a lot. We love playing live! That’s very important to us. Live performances are the best way for a band to improve, and hopefully, to have enough success to make a second, bigger album. We are very ambitious!”

If the album “Rituals” receives the recognition it deserves, the future looks deliciously dark for TEAM GHOST. Just as they wish!

The album “Rituals” is available from March 15, 2013!

Videos:

Team Ghost "Dead Film Star" (Official Video)

http://youtu.be/IAgeP2wtZqA

Directed by Simon Cahn (Videos for Hanni El Khatib, Lady Gaga, Louis Vitton..)

Web:

www.teamghostmusic.com

www.facebook.com/teamghostmusic

www.twitter.com/teamghostmusic