Angel White - GHOST OF THE WEST: VOLUME I (2024) Hi-Res

Rising Dallas-based star Angel White’s debut album, GHOST OF THE WEST: VOLUME I, is a cinematic experience. From the moment it opens with ‘OUTLAW,’ a prowling, howl-at-the-moon anthem for all the broken-hearted ones licking their wounds, to the final growls of the ready and ravenous ‘LONG WAY UP,’ the abbreviated record is moving, thrilling and enrapturing song-by-song, scene-by-scene.

It’s a sobering journey, one paved with serrated lyrics and staggering narratives all doused in haunting folk-soul melodies. He sets striking scenes, veiling barren soundscapes in his shadowy croon and eliciting emotion with every word. The wounding ballad ‘IF YOU’RE GONNA LEAVE,’ effortlessly calls forth that lump-in-the-throat feeling before summoning a downpour through bleary-eyed offerings like the excruciating ‘2733’ and devastating ‘RED BLANKET.’

Though GHOST OF THE WEST often comes off as moody and despondent, the picture isn’t all blue. Rather, there’s a confidence and attitude that casts the album in vivid technicolor, shown on the stomping, Wild West-textured ‘VILLAIN,’ dripping in suspense and keeping you on the edge of your seat, and the blues-fueled ‘LONG WAY UP,’ which inspires fearlessness with each moaning riff.

It’s a project that finds the young artist traversing love and loss as he meditates on family and identity, all the while tipping a hat to his Texas upbringing, his generations-old cowboy lineage and the overall spirit of the region that reared him. As the credits roll against a wall of guttural bass and wailing strings, there are no doubts about Angel White’s potential.

GHOST OF THE WEST: VOLUME I is an altogether masterful debut, a dizzyingly intimate and gorgeously inventive display from an artist utterly sure of himself and his direction forward.