Ghost Trees - Intercept Method (2024)

Ghost Trees are Seth Nanaa (drums) and Brent Bagwell (tenor saxophone).

Nanaa (ex-Indian Summer) and Bagwell met in NYC in 2000. Along with bassist Jordon Schranz, they formed The Eastern Seaboard. That trio toured the US relentlessly, releasing two records with legendary Italian label Black Saint and a fistful of vinyl and CDs from Tigerasylum Records.

After playing together for over a decade, they began investigating the duo format in earnest and released their debut 10" picture disc on the Future Recordings label in 2012. September of 2014 saw the release of their LP, The New Gravity. In June of 2016, the duo—expanded to a big band as part of a month-long residency at Goodyear Arts—released a double 7" called Goodyear. An LP entitled The Fascination followed in October of 2017. In March of 2021, the duo released Universal Topics, recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

The newest record, Intercept Method (released in April of 2024), offers something a little different, however. The duo worked on these tunes for more than two years (in the suspended time of the pandemic), conceiving of them as a suite of twelve songs—four three-song LP sides—right from the outset. Each track has a “shadow” counterpart. For instance, “Super Eight” and “Leevin” are built on the same harmonies, though they move through them in opposite directions (and to quite different effect). “Intercept Method” and “Station Keeping”—both titles reference navigational concepts—work asymmetrical phrases and four-chord shapes across subtly different landscapes of brushwork. Connections like these inform the architecture of the record, and the lush sound of Van Gelder Studio reveals a range of details in the playing: soft subtones, clashing cymbals, dynamic leaps, thundering rolls. Across the record, the duo consciously expand the possibilities of the format, finding a deeper focus for the music by burrowing into the ostensible limitations of instrumentation.

Throughout, Ghost Trees have maintained a busy touring schedule in the States, punctuated by concerts abroad in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, and Japan.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Ghost Trees - Carnation (7:04)
1.02 - Ghost Trees - Station Keeping (2:59)
1.03 - Ghost Trees - Spherical (2:01)
1.04 - Ghost Trees - Lesson in Renunciation (5:30)
1.05 - Ghost Trees - Super Eight (3:27)
1.06 - Ghost Trees - Lymars (3:05)
1.07 - Ghost Trees - Leevin (2:34)
1.08 - Ghost Trees - Tannhäuser Gate (3:07)
1.09 - Ghost Trees - Meanwhile Gesture (4:59)
1.10 - Ghost Trees - Blush Response (4:01)
1.11 - Ghost Trees - Intercept Method (4:13)
1.12 - Ghost Trees - Amplitude (4:01)