The Gay Blades

Ghosts

[3.5/5]

Feel free to ignore the made-up exploits you might have read about New York City kitsch-pop duo the Gay Blades; the poppy rattlings of vocalist/guitarist Clark Westfield and vocalist/drummer Puppy Mills have personality enough without any hipster theatrics. Though the Blades market themselves as a two-piece, we found enough multi-tracked instruments to disqualify Ghosts, the band’s freshman effort, as a pure duo effort. But who really cares when “N.H.D.N” and “Robots Can Fuck Your Shit Up” will, well, fuck your shit up? Westfield and Mills hand out more nods than should be legal for a band with only two heads; “Why Can’t I Grow A Beard?” gets its David Bowie perennially stuck in its Brian Wilson, while “O Shot” ranks among the best songs the Arctic Monkeys never wrote. We’ll forgive the Gay Blades for their fabricated coolness; let’s hope you can. (4NEVER/TRIPLE CROWN) Casey Lynch