The Twenty-Fifth Hour – Friendly Ghosts (Album Review)

Today’s review features the new album “Friendly Ghosts” by the Canadian jazz/rock fusion band The Twenty-Fifth Hour. The band is the brainchild of, and all the songs are written by, Canadian musician Matt Dembicky, who enlisted the help of his friends and local musicians to help him create this album.

Matt says the album is made “with progressions between sections, time signature shifts, and other genre influences; a little something for everyone.” Sounds interesting. Particularly the Math Rock aspects.

So let’s have a listen …

The first song on the album is “Rowena”. It immediately starts off with a trumpet solo against some vamped guitar chords. The chord progression ends with an off-kilter vibe. Then the full song begins with a horn section. They keep throwing in atonal chords and odd progressions. This is an instrumental piece, no vocals. I like the guitar solo in the middle of the song. This is definitely jazz, not hearing much rock yet. But we’ll see.

“Junipero” with a repeating guitar motif. About :45 seconds in, we get our first vocals. Nice voice for jazz/rock fusion. The album is mixed really well, I can hear distinctly all the individual instruments chiming in. I wish I had the lyrics. I like the violin battle with the lead guitar in the middle. The next male vocals have a different – more distant – mix. Nice live drums! The drumming on this album is particularly good throughout all the songs.

“In Transit” starts with what sounds like a muted horn. Enters a nice arpeggiated guitar riff against the sound of the horn. The album is full of interesting and not-predictable chord progression changes, like the rising progression at the beginning of this song. Enter the full horn section. I’m loving the drums in these tracks. This song has a recurring nice melody. This song has more of a rock feel. Another instrumental track. I’m loving the interplay of the horns & guitar throughout this 7:24 minute piece.

The fourth song on the album is “Fighting Fires”. It starts with a nice guitar jazz chord vamp accompanied by horns. This song has vocals. They sit nicely on top of the mix. I’m having no issues with how the vocals are mixed, unlike some other recent reviews. This song has a Steely Dan type vibe. Lots of interesting chord changes in this song. I’m loving all the interesting guitar and keyboard chords being thrown into the mix. Very nice “warm” guitar solo about 4 minutes into the song. Very jazzy.

“After Hours” is the fifth song on the album. It kicks off with choral vocals, enter the bass and drums playing a simple melody line. This song has very tasteful female vocals against an ever changing guitar chord pattern. Very nice use of horns to spice up the changes. Interesting bridge in the middle. Nice jazzy trumpet solo towards the end of the song.

The sixth song on the album is “Beautiful Minds”. It begins with a nice acoustic guitar duet. Enter an electric lead guitar playing jazzy lines over the changes. Finally, the bass and drums enter. I’m loving this drummer. This song is also an instrumental. Sort of a slow movement in this song.

“Famous Last Words” kicks off with a lonely drum beat, enter the bass playing a single note drone. A lovely piano riff and horns enter the fray. This is a very somber sounding piece. The horns have a Brazilian sound. Another instrumental piece with a variety of chord changes. The band is very adept at throwing in jazz chords and turnarounds. I’m not digging this particular song. The end of the song gets more busy and interesting, and I love the lonely piano piece that ends the song.

“Quixote”. Slow chords. Enter the vocals singing an “oooh” “aaah” drone. Then the vocals kick in. The vocals sound fat. The song has interesting turns in the chords accompanying the vocals. “The Phoenix rises”. The song devolves into a very forward vocal with sparse instrumentation. Then enter a faster guitar vamp, louder vocals, with piano, bass, drums, and a keyboard. And we’re back to the vocal with sparse instrumentation. Finally the horns enter with a rising guitar motif. This song is 10:20, at 5 minutes into the song enters a lonely piano playing a beautiful piece, eventually joined by bass and drums. The sound of keys pounding and floating above the fray. Joined by a plucked acoustic guitar. Keyboard and electric guitar enter the song. The vocals soar nicely above the rest of the instruments at the end of the song, repeating “everything I ever dreamed of” …

The ninth song on the album is called “Wait A Minute” and is the only explicit song on the record. A stabbing electric guitar chord riff is joined by a very nice male vocalist. Arpeggiated electric lead guitar runs against a floating horn section. There is a cacophony of sound. I like the background vocals that enter the song in the middle. The instrumentation choices and interesting jazz-inspired chord changes against the horns and electric lead guitar playing single note lines make for a very enchanting sound. At the 4 minute mark the song changes drastically, almost like a brand new song.

The final song, “Non.” starts with what sounds almost like a child’s keyboard, joined soon by the electric lead guitar, then bass, then drums. I’m hearing a string section in the middle of this song, back to the solo child’s keyboard riff, enters a sparse electric guitar with accompanying chords. Very slow movement, then the horns enter an pick things up. Finally, at the 5 minute mark, background vocals enter the song “aaah”. The voices add a new instrument into the mix and provide a nice way to end the album.

Overall, I enjoyed the album, however, I find myself not particularly wanting to listen to this album again. While it was a nice first listen, I didn’t hear anything truly memorable, no big hooks, and no real emotion – other than providing a chill vibe. But there are a lot of really interesting jazz chord changes throughout the album, and the musicianship is first class.

SCORE/Excellent: The musical performances on this album are excellent, as is the mixing and mastering. This is a very atonal jazz album, not as much rock as I was expecting. But definitely jazz fusion. I do appreciate the effort that went in to this music composition. The musicianship and artistry is truly outstanding. Much love, Beth

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