The press ‘blurb’ we receive at MM can often be, as you might imagine, somewhat repetitive. The Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes references seem still to be de rigueur as it were – whether it bears any resemblance to the music or not.

Not so with JP Whipple…

“Things had gone to black. The money ran out. Prospects were grim. I was (and probably still am…) heading to join the ranks of the shopping cart pushers and dumpster divers. Needless to say, I fell into a true black depression. Physically and mentally ill and without any sort of health coverage (Go Team Amerika!) I needed to self medicate.

I couldn’t afford heroin so I set up some microphones and started to record some music.

I made a whole f—ing album…

Perhaps someone like me cannot be helped but maybe sharing my experiences can help others avoid the slippery slope that starts so innocently with nothing more than a Pink Floyd LP and bag of crappy weed. It’s too late for me.”

Now that’s a press release that makes us want to listen to the record. And we did. It is called Ghosts. And it is very, very good.

Reflective, conversational and ruminative, it covers topics from the impact of Phil The Alien’s visit to Earth to the scenes that occur when playing a gig in the local pub. Wide ranging I think proper reviewers would call it…

Gently plucked strings to blues licks, scalpel sharp lyrics, black humour, sorrow, and not a little wisdom delivers a record sitting somewhere between an (even more) stoned Arlo Guthrie, Damon Moon and Wooden Wand. It sounds nothing like Arcade Fire nor the Fleet Foxes, and for that I like it even more.

Ghosts will cost you just $5 from his Bandcamp page here. please go and buy it.

Download JP Whipple – Douche Bag Bar mp3 (from Ghosts)

Download JP Whipple – Home (Is Where I’m Leaving) mp3 (from Ghosts)