Kevin Bronson on August 27th, 2015

2

The atmospheric post-punk sound revived by Interpol, the Killers and Editors in the early- to mid-Aughts won’t go away, and Los Angeles quintet Ghosts in Pocket are the latest to drink from its well. It’s found in the pleading urgency of “Barberton,” the title track from the band’s new EP, out Oct. 9 The group — Keith Beshwate, Zach Mullen, Chris Pulley, Nick Hartman, and Eric Atkinson — tell the story that they played their first gig to a bunch of sixth-graders at a pancake dinner fund-raiser, but there’s nothing syrupy about Beshwate’s stentorian vocals, the stabbing guitars, brawny bass or the hard-charging rhythms. The song is a nod to the town of Barberton, an old gold rush town in mountainous eastern South Africa, where, ostensibly, they might have pancake dinners too. The EP, meanwhile, was produced with John Glenn Kunkel of the New Division, and recorded both in his home studio and the C4 Music Lab in Eagle Rock.

||| Stream: “Barberton”

||| Live: Ghosts in Pocket play tonight at the Complex, along with Fake Furs and Deadfella