Published July 16, 2010

Hi, Hubbubers. Arts reporter Andrea Shea is always talking about local music she likes. I told her to start blogging about it! Ghost Box Orchestra releases its debut CD this week, “The Only Light On.” Here’s Andrea’s take on the fledgling artist and a few free tracks to download and enjoy. –AP

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The Ghost Box Orchestra (courtesy of the artist)

Ghost Box Orchestra is inspired by the microphones that ghost hunters use to record spectral visitations. And then there’s a somewhat obscure audio device used to communicate with the dead called a “ghost box.” The Ghost Box Orchestra manages to channel a “from beyond” aesthetic through their playing and textured production.

The songs are layered, noisy but quiet, undulating, ethereal. Most importantly, though, they rock! They really take you for a ride. Especially if you experience them through headphones.

I’ll admit the group’s name attracted me immediately. I love all things otherworldly. Turns out the GBO does too. So we’ll likely get together for a radio story just in time for Halloween.

“We consider October to be our anniversary/birthday so we always commemorate it in some way,” Jeremy Lassetter wrote me via e-mail, suggesting we meet where they recorded the new CD: an abandoned Freemason’s Lodge-turned-studio in Chelsea.

“The Only Light On” is mostly instrumental and fully DIY. The band is self-releasing a limited number of hand-stamped copies — only 300. But of course you can buy and download songs on their website.

I’ve already envisioned listening to “The Lodge” while driving over the Brooklyn Bridge under a full moon. Or maybe blasting off to another galaxy! I hear Pink Floyd, Dick Dale, Sonic Youth, a little Built to Spill, Mogwai, even some Black Sabbath. What about you?