Ex-Lion Tamer - Go Ghost

A New York City-via-Israel trio with a song from Wire’s Pink Flag as its namesake, Ex-Lion Tamer is a near antithesis to its major influences’ sounds—they’re a stripped-down Sonic Youth, or a My Bloody Valentine of un-epic proportions. Go Ghost is sloppy, noisy and melodic—a worthy competitor to its forebears, and excellent on its own terms. Reverting to the traditional guitar/bass/drums arsenal, Assaf Tager, Zoe Polanski and Haggai Fershtman serve up jagged, viscous pop with alternating singing duties throughout Go Ghost. It’s not Deerhoof-cute, and it’s not over-the-top experimental; despite that Swans and Lydia Lunch and DNA are considered influences, Ex-Lion Tamer is a relatively listenable band, rarely venturing into noisy dissonance to the point of scaring people away (save for “Charlie Head,” an excellent pairing of no-wave and post-punk.) Go Ghost isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s certainly not pretentious about it. While the band’s influences are often obvious, Ex-Lion Tamer has concealed enough to make the listener uncertain as to exactly from what era the record came, a feat in itself. That aside, the songwriting is interesting and varied, fraught with manic energy and a denial of convention. [www.tinstarcreativepool.com]