Cherry Ghost - We Sleep On Stones

Cherry Ghost’s second album, this year’s ‘Beneath This Burning Shoreline’, saw one-man-band Simon Aldred attach more members and build on the grainy, rainy country and western debuted on 2007’s ‘Thirst For Romance’. The Cherry Ghost sound was already fairly fulsome, but a tooled-up band ladled on the drama.

Album opener ‘We Sleep On Stones’ revels in that sense of theatre. It’s Johnny Cash as played by Doves – no surprise it shares ‘Kingdom Of Rust’ producer Dan Austin – brooding with atmospheric, careworn lushness over what’s in essence a murder ballad. “We sleep on stones / There’s a killer in our homes / Who drives the night in,” growls Aldred, later bringing on the fire and brimstone with “Made my peace with Jesus long ago / If He sees what I see then He will forgive me.” It seems a slim hope.

Loudhailer distortion holds Aldred’s commentary at bay, Duane Eddy twangs add to the air of lawlessness – but it’s the portentous, swirling strings that really roll the dark clouds in. ‘We Sleep on Stones’ is no ‘Summer in the City’; nevertheless, its hot-breathed closeness will keep you warm at night. If slightly uncomfortable.