There are plenty of folk out there who are predicting the "end times", and one of the signs of this is pestilence (or an infectious disease epidemic in layman's terms). Is there something in the human subconscious that, whether you believe a word of it or not, picks up on these ideas and allows them to infect their art? Not for the first time recently have we seen an cover shot of someone wearing a medieval doctor's mask. In those days it was thought that plague was passed by breathing it in through the air, so doctors wore elongated face-pieces that were stuffed with a concoction of herbs that were thought to kill the virus before it could enter their body. This led to them looking like a cross between some kind of birdman and something out of The Clangers. Here, Guardian Ghost have gone for the bird look, but the design is almost certainly, whether planned or not, connected to this form of curious illness shield.
But enough about that, we have a song to listen to, and it's called 'Sailor' (men who in those days were no strangers to disease... OK I'll shut up about that now...). At first this could be more acoustic indie/pop that's the last thing we need more of, but then it grows; there's way more atmosphere and emotion in these lyrics and their delivery, and when the piano and extra guitars join in, this atmosphere is doubled. A tale of sadness, the track then brings in strings and percussion to become a sweeping, dreamlike wash of noise that's so glorious that, despite the subject matter being loss, is enough to rouse the spirits and swell the heart. Then there's a hush as it all begins again with lines as simple as "will you come back to me" suddenly seeming like the most important message in the world right now. Then the sound grows again into a totally enthralling and powerful strike to the heart. Instead of falling back again, 'Sailor' then pushes forward even more with layer upon layer of sound being woven together in a quite brilliant way. If the object of his desire hears this song, then they will surely come back to him.
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