Rob’s Album Of The Week: Ghosts In The Snow’s Lifted

Andrew Christensen isn’t your typical kind of songwriter. What separates him from his contemporaries is the variety of abstract progressions he exhibits. The structure of each song is all over the place, but that’s on purpose. With Carlos Molina on drums and Eric Humphrey on bass, Christensen fronts the Providence, Rhode Island math prog rock act Ghosts In The Snow while bringing riffs on guitar. These riffs are noticeable within the band’s self-released debut album, Lifted, that came out on April 26.

There are a couple instrumentals to go along with a bunch of jams that has Christensen singing his heart out. The lyrics are borderline equivocal, as if there’s a story being told but the meaning is left to the listener’s interpretation. These are a few examples of how this trio strays from the norm. Better to have it be that way instead of being boring, right? The new album is engaging on multiple levels and all it takes is pressing play to figure out why.

A lot of acts that delve into math and prog rock have trouble finding a melodic balance, that’s if they strive for that to begin with. The time signatures in math can be too complex to grab hold of a groove to bring that melody out. Too many times a prog rock act will go for that balance and end up sounding like every horrible pop punk band that came out during the 2000s. Ghosts…