Set between the sprawling city of Orlando and the gritty town of Daytona Beach, DeLand is at an odd spot in Florida \u2014 it inhabits an area somewhat away but close to everything. Founded by a baking soda magnate, DeLand boasts the state\u2019s oldest private college, the Museum of Florida Art and was the site of Adam Sandler\u2019s film The Waterboy. It\u2019s a difficult place to define.<\/p>\n
Knowing that helps better explain Roadkill Ghost Choir, a six-piece band that embodies just about any genre you want to throw at it \u2014 indie, rock, folk, bluegrass, country, pop. And while Roadkill Ghost Choir could fill any number of descriptions, what it is not is boring. In its EP Quiet Light, the band creates a lush six-song feast of banjos, trumpets, subtle cymbals, tight songwriting and constant surprise \u2013 DeLand has a star in its midst.<\/p>\n
Paced by the brother trio of Andrew, Maxx and Zach Shepard, RGC mixes and matches sounds, with sudden shifts to push songs in dynamic directions. Opening track \u201cBeggars Guilt\u201d kicks off with clean and simple banjo picking soon joined by Andrew\u2019s vocal, an understated twang that sits somewhere between Jim James and Bob Dylan. After building up a steady banjo steam, the song drifts into an ethereal set of oohs and aahs, before coming home with a heady trumpet and an inspired Andrew Shepard leaning into the lyrics. It\u2019s a fine foray in.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrifter\u201d falls into more My Morning Jacket territory (though I felt a touch of The Feelies too), a fast-moving song with the fine inclusion of Kiffy Meyers\u2019 pedal steel to give it added character. \u201cDevout\u201d follows, crooning lyrics and a subtle guitar slow burn through most of the song, but there\u2019s plenty going on underneath to keep it constantly interesting. It reminds me of The Bends \u2013 yeah, I went there.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not all glorious \u2014 some of the songs tend to go on a bit too long, while \u201cBird In My Window\u201d doesn\u2019t feel quite done. But this doesn\u2019t keep these songs from having merit, it just shows the band is not quite all the way there \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a surprise such an eclectic band comes from an undefined place \u2013 but maybe that\u2019s what makes Roadkill Ghost Choir so special. Without a blueprint of bands to follow, it forged a path all its own, and Quiet Light is its shining map. Consider it one to treasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Set between the sprawling city of Orlando and the gritty town of Daytona Beach, DeLand is at an odd spot in Florida \u2014 it inhabits an area somewhat away but close to everything. Founded by a baking soda magnate, DeLand boasts the state\u2019s oldest private college, the Museum of Florida Art and was the site […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[477,215],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-quiet-light","tag-roadkill-ghost-choir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1510,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions\/1510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}