ASTOR,PETE - One For The Ghost (Sealed) (LP/CD)

‘Time passes. Life happens. People arrive and people leave. Songs celebrate, songs grieve, look at yesterday and smile towards tomorrow; and everywhere, ghosts. One evening, when I was enjoying my favorite red wine, I decided to pour an extra glass for people and times past. Soon it became a tradition, the name of a song and then an album: One for the Ghost.’ This is a record born through time; seasoned and erudite Indie auteur, ex leader of Creation Records’ favourites The Loft and The Weather Prophets, Pete Astor brings together strands and tributaries in his work over the years, mining timeless guitar pop to frame wry lyrical insights and melodic hooks, making music for today, with a true line from the past and an eye to the future. Having released Spilt Milk (Fortuna Pop!) in 2016 to an overwhelmingly positive response, Astor continues the musical spirit of that album with James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, Veronica Falls) remaining a mainstay on guitar. He is now joined by The Wave Pictures’ rhythm section of Franic Rozycki on bass and Jonny Helm on drums; Pam Berry of Withered Hand and Black Tambourine contributes vocals. One for the Ghost’s rainy day psychedelia maintains Astor’s engagement with relevant and contemporary worlds; from the mordant wit of the title track (‘It’s the wallpaper or me you know/one of us has got to go/ said Oscar Wilde/ and then he died’), to the London-based outsider ache of Walker (‘Walking the town, joining the future to the past/ the line from Arnold Circus all the way to Marble Arch’), via the ageless love song of Water Tower and its paean to rural modernism (‘Meet my by the water tower/ it’s my favourite concrete flower’). Bruised but very much alive, Astor and One for the Ghost face the future with a wry smile and hungry heart.