Demos

Air To Achilles - Holy Ghost

Owain Paciuszko 29/11/2009

Rating: 4/5

There's a peculiar and appealing 80's alternative vibe to Air To Achilles, lead track Holy Ghost marries together synths with a The Cure-like guitar, hollered vocals and rampant drums. It's both as polished and vacuous as the decade's great pop-rock singles but also emotive and powerful come the chorus, where it transforms into anthemic Kings of Leon playing over a double-speed version of Vangelis' Blade Runner score. As far as the current wave of post-punk 80s imitators go this is right on the money, and feels like a lost relic, a 45 picked up at a car boot sale that opens your eyes to a great unknown band. Hopefully that fate won't befall Air To Achilles.

B-side All My Desire has a squelchy electro sound, and feels somewhat more straightforward by comparison. It does show a continued panache for guitar solos, it's just a shame that otherwise it feels a bit like end credits music to The Lost Boys being covered by Bloc Party. Saying that, there's nothing particularly awful about it, it's just had a hard act to follow, and it's epic throes seem a little less genuine than those of the, quite frankly, fantastic Holy Ghost.

So, a game of two halves for Air To Achilles, but they show great promise and a touch of sinceirty about their 80's 'imitations' that so many of their contemporaries sorely lack.