The only thing in common the band Husky Rescue’s music has with their name is the chilly atmosphere. The strength, fervor, and determination for a dog to recover someone in Siberian snow in an actual husky rescue completely contrasts the fragile, subtle, and relaxed sounds of the band’s new album, Ghost Is Not Real.
Spacy slide guitars, solemn electronica, and sedated lounge vocals help form the aura of a Scandinavian style of night-rock. Even at its most lucid moments, the album is laced with ethereal noise, maintaining a consistently dim-lit tone. It’s the background sound of a modern, high-class hotel: sleek, sensuous, and secluded.
The man behind most of their work, Marko Nyberg, considers various imag-ician directors like Lynch and Von Trier to be influences, and his sound provides ample moments of open visual imagery. "Nightless Night" is a rolling rock jam splashed with a glassy guitar, eventually giving way to a floating Wild West sound. "Blueberry Tree Part" I, II, & III combine for over ten minutes of crescendoed, auroral rock. Open-air twilight stargazing is just one image it conjures.
The other obvious major contributor their crystalline atmosphere is singer Reeta-Leena Korhola’s airy vocals that can sound like the ghost of an old movie star or a nurse gently looking over a bed. In "Blueberry Tree Part II", she sweetly serenades over a sparkling xylophone and wavy effects that sound like the ripples from dropping pebble into a pond. "Diamonds In The Sky" is flowing carol, with elegant vocals drifting over a haunting slide guitar and shimmering guitar picking. The warm sensitivity of the album is a transcendent dynamic between the folktronic music and Reeta-Leena’s voice, and in her way, ranks highly among other proficient indie female vocalists.
If you’re able to afford the style in which the music on Ghost Is Not Real fits, this is definitely worth a listen. If you dream of forward-thinking, stylish luxury, then listening to this album will only fuel it more. A richly relaxed tone and intricate production assuredly put Husky Rescue into the listeners of a higher tax bracket, but that doesn’t mean it’s not highly accessible. It’s guaranteed to slide just about anyone, regardless of station, into a contemplatively peaceful mood.
