One of the neat perks that comes from mingling around the DIY music scene is that sometimes, when you order something from friend’s label, they send you some freebies.

In this case, that would be when I wrote about Fashioner by In Parallel, my friend Bryan of Something Beautiful Records (and the podcast As the Story Grows), he asked if I had a copy of their debut, which he had put out, and offered to send me a copy. When that package came, it included this record from a band I had never heard of.

But believe me when I tell you: this is a true hidden gem.

Read more a yearofvinyl.com #eastghost #indierock #postpunk #postrock #vinyl

East Ghost is a three-piece indie rock outfit from Washington DC. But their sound doesn’t have much of the typical DC Underground sound. Instead, they weave post-punk grooves, post rock atmospheres, and an emotive melodicism that lands somewhere between Britpop and emo.

Stabby angular tracks like “If I Sleep” and “White Fences” call to mind a punkier Interpol, while the jangling “Jericho” and the atmospheric “Folded Hands” showcase a more tender sentimentality than the often disaffected delivery of most other soundalikes.

The record’s shining moment though is in “Tobacco Teeth,” when the sparse guitar accompaniment builds to an explosive climax a la Explosions in the Sky.

My biggest complaint with this record is that there isn’t more of it—its seven tracks are finished after a mere thirty-three minutes. But every second of that runtime is packed with solid performances from East Ghost.

Certainly not bad for a freebie.