FFO: Glad Town Ghost – Riverbank

Photo by Joe Copley

Glad Town Ghost (aka Dale Husband) weaves Appalachian‑shaded folk through East Cleveland grit, echoing Jackson C Frank and Cormac McCarthy. His latest single Riverbank is ‘a love letter for the mother of my child, and for fiery lovers everywhere.’ Sonically. The track meanders and flows with glistening guitars and cinematic instrumentation, Dale’s warm, intimate vocal drifting alongside a beautifully grounding female harmony. A banjo solo, almost guqin‑like in its delicacy, sees the track out, sketching a quiet picture of the American wilderness.

Here, Dale gives us three tracks that sum up the sounds of his latest release…

Iron & Wine – Carousel

Sam Beam is, for me, one of the all-time great songwriters; this album, The Shepherd’s Dog, is the first to see him start to add synths and brass to his work; it is a masterpiece. The effects and production on ‘Carousel’ serve the song so well, especially the vocoder vocal with a close harmony underneath, beautiful, calm textures in the middle of what is sometimes a quite jagged and rhythmic record. 

Westerman – Blue Comanche

I’m trying to expand the horizons of my music production-wise, whilst maintaining the folk song soft centre. I feel Westerman does something similar on a really high level. I love how 80s-inspired this track feels. There’s so much going on, but if you took everyone but the guitar and vocal away, it would still stand as beautiful writing. There’s a really tasteful bass solo as well, Glenn Campbell style.

Warpaint – Composure

Not a direct influence on my songwriting, but some of the songs we are releasing this year have shoegaze/post-rock elements, especially live. Once I realised this, I started listening to bands whose atmospheres I love. I had forgotten how timeless The Fool is; no other Indie band uses empty space and the sound of a room better than Warpaint, IMVHO.