When a band describes themselves as “a cynical co-ed Everly Brothers,” they’re going to get my attention. And when said band draws similarities to legends like Dex Romweber (Flat Duo Jets) and produces minimalist twang-inflected songs, I’m even more on board. The Nashville duo of Doug Lehmann and Stephanie Brush (the pair being half of The Clutters) know their way around a guitar hook and that combined with their dueling vocals make the guitar/drums rock on Ghost In The Ground a gritty and unlikely Nashville bred disc.
The album leads off with “The Best Of You,” a brief campfire-esque acoustic tune with raw vocals. At under 40 seconds, it’s a foreshadowing of great things to come, such as the following garage rocker with crashing percussion, “Other Side Of Life.” This is a forceful song; if you’re not a fan of Mystery Twins at this point, you may as well stop listening. “All Alone” starts a string of quieter selections, where the pair’s melodic vocals are the focus and the pace is trimmed down. “The World Within” gets even more subdued with just acoustic guitars, but the loudness appears again with the walls of post-punk on “Ghost.”
The second half of the album finds the band a bit more plaintive with the almost ballad like feel of “Your Heart Won’t Let You Down,” the fleeting “Do You Wanna Dance With Me?” and the acoustic folk of “Sad Song.” However, they still get visceral on the fiery blues of “Sad Song” before exiting similarly to how they started with the strumming and keys of “Long Days.”
Though it’s just guitar, drums and two voices used together, Mystery Twins makes plenty of varied noises – from restrained to brash and melodic to aberrant – all while keeping twang in their arsenal, though it’s far from their only weapon. Ghost In The Ground is not exactly the usual Nashville sound. Fans of atypical indie folk with a nostalgic feel need to try this on for size.
