Palm Ghosts “The Lost Frequency” 2021. Limited edition marbled vinyl. Ice Queen Records. Dark wave, post punk’d dream pop from Nashville. I lost count scrolling through their Bandcamp page on what number of release this is – they have a lot of material dating back about 10 years. We picked up The Lost Frequency this past weekend up at Mile of Music when we caught their early Saturday afternoon set. As they themselves noted, it was pretty weird (but not unpleasant) seeing their show on a gorgeously perfect Midwestern sunny summer afternoon; their bio notes they are “more at home in rainy Manchester” or, I’m guessing, a late-night goth club. Their music is heavily 80’s inspired: a more than vigorous nod to The Cure, a bit of Smiths jangle and moody Joy Division, plus psychedelic touches of Echo & the Bunnymen and then throw in some atmospheric Cocteau Twins plus a a sprinkle sweeping anthemic early U2. I loved it! The fact that drummer Walt Epting was wearing a Quilz t-shirt (a band we know from Milwaukee whom they’ve toured with) didn’t hurt either.

While Palm Ghosts has clearly been around for awhile, The Lost Frequency is the first record we’ve gotten so I’m not entirely sure which tracks they played live on Saturday. My top picks are the lead track “Bloodlight” which leads off with a killer industrial-goth beat, then layers on soaring synths and Seventeen Seconds-era Cure guitar licks. I also like “Nightsong,” which is dreamy and beaty (great bass-line!) and the driving and dark Bauhaus-esque “Young Empire.” The track “John Carpenter” is as gothy as expected, with the lyrics “A fragile stage constructed on a fantasy drawn in the simple realization that the demon is within.”