Captain Future - Ghostman (2021)

Captain Future is the alter ego of Alex McGowan, record producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire. When not holed up in his London studio Space Eko East recording roots and rock n’ roll bands such as The Urban Voodoo Machine, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind and Son Of Dave, Alex devotes his time to his gospel-driven rock n’ soul band The Future Shape Of Sound, a 9-piece collective of musicians, soul divas and performance artists who are renowned for their explosive, colourful and energetic live shows at festivals and seedy dives country-wide.

When Covid put pay to live music 12 months ago, Alex retreated to his studio to finish his long worked on and overdue solo album. And you could say this album is a departure from the raucous, party gospel that The Future Shape of Sound deliver. Let’s get one thing straight, ‘Ghostman’ is not a party album, this is an after-party album. A chilled out, dub heavy collection of hypnotic beats and surreal, lazy vocalisin’, just what the witchdoctor ordered!

First single and album opener ‘Holy Waters’ sets the scene. Bluesy, downtempo dub fills the speakers. The captain’s deep, husky vocals are juxtaposed with haunting female vocals over minimal instrumentation, as the band just let the rhythm flow naturally. I say band, but in reality Alex handles most of the instruments on this album with a little help from a few of his friends in the vocal department.

Tribal beats and lazy percussion hypnotize the listener before descending into well trippy territory. Wait…did someone slip me and edible or two? Things sure feel weird in here! No, we’ve just segued into track 2 ‘Zombie Lover’. This is ‘Guns Of Brixton’ in dub, with deep, throbbing bass, ska guitar and an almost Spanish guitar infused acoustic interlude that takes things to another plane. A hyper, voodoo video is currently in the works as I type, and I’m sure it can only enhance the experience.