Ones To Watch: Black Casino And The Ghost

With a unique, bluesy sound set to excite and ignite, London quartet Black Casino And The Ghost are currently causing quite a stir in the underground music scene, having just released their debut album – ‘Some Dogs Think Their Name Is No’ – a pretty phenomenal collection of songs apparently about ‘how to fly a plane through turbulence without spilling your coffee’. Not such a bizarre comparison as it sounds actually… Listening to Black Casino And The Ghost is pretty much like soaring through the air, passing through bright rays of sunlight, as well as dark, heavy storm clouds. Whilst impossible to pigeonhole into any one genre with a sound far reaching from anything else I’ve heard lately, the more uptempo, blues-fuelled moments of the album (‘Boogeyman’ or ‘Been A Bad Woman’) are somewhat reminiscent of the White/Mosshart super-creation The Dead Weather, whilst the darker, eerily ethereal tracks (‘Ballad Of The Ghost’) ooze the foreboding intensity of my favourite Aussie grungsters, Silverchair (remember Daniel Johns…?)

Whatever else you may be into at the moment, therefore, I highly recommend you take a listen to Black Casino And The Ghost. They are capable of delivering an array of wonderfully eclectic, and undeniably enjoyable, songs that successfully fuse together haunting vocals, theatrical piano melodies and bluesy, upbeat RnB all with a pinch of humour (and I’ve heard they’re pretty good live too.) Basically, you’d be a fool to miss out on this rare gem, whatever your dog thinks its name is…

Black Casino And The Ghost are Elisa Zoot (vocals, piano) Ariel Lerner (guitar) Gary Kilminster (bass) and Paul Winter-Hart (drums).  And their debut album is available from the band’s bandcamp now.

Mari Lane

Mari Lane

Editor, London. Likes: Kathleen Hanna, 6Music, live music in the sunshine. Dislikes: Sexism, pineapples, the misuse of apostrophes.