Warm Ghost is a duo hailing from the indie music hotbed that is Brooklyn, NY. Their music connects two very different worlds. The first is that of standard electronic pop like Au Revoir Simone, The Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. In the other world are innovative abstract electronic artists like Christian Fennesz, Autechre, and Aphex Twin. This mix comes through very well on the Uncut Diamond EP, which was released earlier this year.

On that release, the bleakness and the happiness of the two worlds described above combine into an engaging EP that does not overstay its welcome and pushes electronic pop music beyond sheer retro futurism into something truly compelling. The EP has faster, more upbeat tracks like “Without a Dancer” as well as tracks you could put on a mixtape to your girlfriend like “Uncut Diamond.” This blend of styles allows for the experimental and pop components to exist harmoniously.

One would think that with an EP as strong as Uncut Diamond, Warm Ghost would have been able to keep the momentum up for their full length, but like I said when I reviewed Twin Sister’s In Heaven:

Any group of people who’ve played together more than five times can make an EP. It’s a much grander statement to make an album which requires a focused narrative and the distillation of a sound.

Unfortunately for Warm Ghost, they were unable to make that transition from Extended Player to Long Player. This isn’t to say that they didn’t get close. Many of the elements that are exciting about the EP, in particular its merging of electronic sounds and pop song structures, are still on Narrows. When they are done well, the balance is truly magnificent. Unfortunately, this doesn’t explain why the album fell short in the end. The problem of the albums is, appropriately, a rather abstract one.

The thing that made Uncut Diamond exciting was the way that it moved through its songs. Paul Duncan and Oliver Chapoy were able to create an exciting dreamscape of sounds, textures, and metaphysical beauty, taking the listener into their world. On Narrows, this magic is gone. Unlike the EP, the LP is very dense, which takes its toll on the listener. The album starts off very strong with “G.W.T.S.”, “I Will Return”, and “Only One”. After this opening set, the album starts to get overburdened by its own experimentation. The sonic landscape, which is packed with processing, effects, and a bevy of electronic noise makers, becomes exceedingly bleak and daunting, especially by “Ply7″. It felt like I was stuck in this terrible nightmare that I couldn’t escape. As a result, I found myself at multiple points during the album zoning out while listening, which is something that should never occur when listening to a good album.

While there is certainly a disappointment in listening to this album, it’s only because they didn’t quite get the balance between experimentation and pop quite right. Their EP showed that they are capable of it, but they tried to do too much here. As a result, the listener is subjected to unnecessary electronic play that only obscures the stronger, dreamlike qualities of the band. If you like the Uncut Diamond EP, the album is worthy of at least a spin, but it is not the superior product of the two releases.

The video I’ve posted here is the first cut from Narrows, “G.T.W.S.” Give it a listen as it is one of the best tracks–if not the best–on the album.