Review Summary: “If you’re not trying to be real, you don’t have to get it right. That’s art.” – Andy Warhol
Acid Ghost’s choice of naming this album after the artist Andy Warhol was obviously an intentional one. Warhol himself even kicks off the album in the opener 'Life' by answering a question about his public perception and how his art has changed. In an entirely separate interview, Ace Barcelon was asked why he picked such a name for the album, to which he described how he was “inspired by [Warhol’s] story, his views on art”. If you do a bit of reading up on Warhol, you will see that one of his key goals was to blur the line between the physical world and art, having life itself imitate art and vice versa. Although this review could easily diverge into a discussion about the relationship between music as an art form and life, the important thing to takeaway is that Acid Ghost understands the importace of connecting art with life.
This connection, however, is not a forced one. Although one might not be entirely convinced of this after hearing the slightly pretentious sounding sample that opens the album, all is forgiven once Ace begins singing in his soft, lullaby-esque voice. ‘The Artist’s High’ talks mostly of love and reliance on a person, and with simple lyrics like “
can you tell me how it feels to be mine?”, it’s obvious the band isn’t attempting to be overambitious with their message. Yet, the lyrics work in a way due to the dreamy indie pop instrumentation that seems to drown the words in a bath of fuzz while the melody calmly floats atop the water. Almost every song can be described with the previous description, making for not only a cohesive sounding project but also an album that is confident with its own sound. The band wants its listener to go on a journey, not so much a lyrical one, but rather an exploration in mood and atmosphere, something they really nail with their instrumentation and production.
As with anyone’s life, the album takes quite the turn, and this change is most evident during the 6th track. Before this, all the tracks could be summed up as love songs with a happy yet melancholy tone to them. When ‘Mistakes’ arrives, the listener first notices the shift in lyrical content which, to be fair, is still a love song, but the lover has now been replaced with Ace’s “
white and brown medication”. Even the instrumentation has shifted ever so slightly, becoming a bit more unsettling and darker in nature while still maintaining a dream-like state. Centerpiece ‘Letters’ embraces this shift in sound and proves to be one of the most self-realized tracks on the album, taking a simple melody and exploding it into a chilling, shoegaze-inspired opus. With this subtle dichotomy between the two sides of the album, Acid Ghost is now treading the line between what is real to them and what is fantasy, allowing for the listener to discern which is which.
Although consistency is often worshiped on WARHOL, the band still leaves some room for experimentation. With their cover of the Soccer Mommy song ‘Henry’, the experimentation seems to falter slightly, as the inclusion of an average-but-forgettable cover is a confusing choice considering the album’s purpose and message. Yet, two tracks give a shimmer of hope for growth within the young band. ‘Walking Through a Storm’ is an obvious standout due to its ability to completely deviate from the dream pop realm into an electronic/ambient endeavor. On paper, this shouldn’t work for the pop rooted band, but the song’s ability to carry over the feelings and moods of its predecessors helps it thrive within its context. ‘Vulnerable’, however, steals the show as Ace puts on his best Elliott Smith impression which can be seen in both the acoustic instrumentation and his lyrics (“
just lay down and shoot and paint the world through my eyes”). Suddenly, the song explodes into a blissful release of noisy chaos, another change for the band, but one that feels so right as the closer for the album.
With WARHOL, Acid Ghost doesn’t really attempt to be real. Although one could point to the lyrics and suggest otherwise, as a whole the album doesn’t feel like an honest portrait of the lives of the band. Much is obscured through fantasies and delusions, and even though their honesty pokes through in glimpses, often times they attempt to cover it up with hazy storms and cushy clouds. The band didn’t really do everything right either, yet this doesn’t come across as an issue to the listener as it's obvious they weren’t attempting to make a “perfect” record. Calling this just art would be cliché, diminishing the true virtues of the album, but according to Warhol’s definition, this would fit right in. Life imitates art and art imitates life, the beauty here is finding out when each situation happens.
