The NY-based 10-piece continues to remix the funk genre into a slick new beast with their third LP, A New Kind of Love.
Ghost Funk Orchestra took the sensuality that could be felt occasionally on their 2020 psychedelic soul record, An Ode to Escapism, and based an entire album around it. This effort finds the band diving deep into sultry noir soundtrack atmospheres, exotica-kissed love ballads and romantic melodies highlighted by Bill Withers-like string sections. This is the kind of record you put on for your date after midnight when the lights are down low and you’ve just opened a bottle of red.
The band’s deeply encompassing sound is still here and mixed beautifully. Each song fully sinks you into a bath of kaleidoscopic brass, soaring harmonic vocals and drums that belong on a Tony Allen record. GFO was always great at committing to a particular sonic atmosphere or mood, but this ability is absolutely mastered here. Every instrument and vocal seems to be drenched in the laid back cool and sexy vibe that permeates throughout the entire LP.
Strong, imaginative and deliciously lush, A New Kind of Love closes out one of the most superb three-record runs we’ve seen in recent years. Here’s hoping band leader Seth Applebaum and the rest of the group will be adding on to this run again very soon.
Fans of the Daktaris, Orgone and The Budos Band should buy two copies of this album on vinyl, as they’ll surely wear one out before the year is through. Click here to get your copy from Colemine Records/Karma Chief today.
-KH
Record Crates United 