Ghosts

Career suicide?

Siobhan Donaghy started her official music career when she was only 14 years old by signing a record contract as an original member of Sugababes. However, her personal intentions and that of Sugababes' management didn't seem to be in the same area and she gave the band up in accordance with her own desire pretty soon after their very first album One Touch was released. It all looked quite weird as the band's future was really promising, they were not superstars yet but their first singles has already had Top-10 positions in UK and Europe. The band itself was about two years old and didn't have a fan base big enough to support solo albums of Sugababes' members, so living a project, which was to become the most successful British girl group seemed like a career suicide. Nevertheless, Siobhan Donaghy turned out to be a hard nut to crack. Despite a failure of her debut album Revolution In Me, this result was quite predictable considering her conditions, she didn't lost heart. Her new album Ghosts is able to convince everyone that a four years gap in the career of this songstress wasn't spent for nothing. Today she appears as a mature, self-confident pop performer who has a whole bunch of fresh and original ideas.

Ghosts: the most suitable title

Ghosts was recorded in France under a tactful guidance of programmer and producer James Sanger, who also worked with Keane, Eno and U2. The stylistic Siobhan sticks to today substantially differs from what she was doing in Sugababes. It is still pop music but it can't be referred to any of modern mainstream directions. There is an evident influence of classic pop rock, the elements of electronic music are flooding the arrangements and the general mood of the songs is soaked with a peculiar atmosphere of mystery and infinity. The album's title Ghosts sounds really appropriate in this respect. And all this features were blended into one attractively looking, soft pop whole. Let's take the first track as an example. As an album opener Don't Give It Up sounds really promising. The first thing that arrests attention is the song's stylistic character. It is as arty-awkward as Bjork's early records and as theatrically-soft as Kate Bush's songs. The same approach presents on Sometimes, for instance, but this time out the poppy tunefulness prevails. Guitar songs are not uncommon here too, however one can't call them purely rock pieces – a share of electronic music is audible almost everywhere. 12 Bar Acid Blues sounds sufficiently exemplifying. Basically this is a guitar driven song but the backbeat and electronic squelches make it sound like disco electro pop.

Ghosts is a mature and exquisite pop

The album finishes with a marvelous track trinity that introduces graceful particles of meditative mood into the general atmosphere of the album. It seems like these songs comprise a consecutive chain where every link prepares a listener for the natural and comfortable perception of the next one. And though the songs don't fall out from the album's sonic context and they all in fact are really different, the track order represented on the album stands as a really helpful way to understand them better. And when the very last song Ghosts, which simultaneously reminds Massive Attack and Enigma, fades away you feel a little dazed and numb as if you were just awaken from a hypnotic trance. After the album is over the fact that Siobhan was a part of Sugababes looks simply unreal. There is completely nothing in common. The album is simply devoid of that assumed glamorous sugariness. But it managed to keep the essence of pop music – the songs evoke purely positive emotions even despite their ghostly like and mysterious moods. Ghost is a serious and qualitative work; it represents very mature and even exquisite pop where the balance between insubstantial atmosphere and dance music straightforwardness was observed really competently. Ghosts may be recommended to every person who likes pop music.