Dirty Ghosts

In 2006, a pair of Toronto transplants left San Francisco hard rock outfit <a href="spotify:artist:2t0sLZhWLS8qpXMYPymQyQ">Parchman Farm</a> to form their own band. The duo -- Allyson Baker and Carson Binks -- called themselves Dirty Ghosts. Crafting a blend of '80s new wave and punk (with the help of Baker's ex-husband, <a href="spotify:artist:2fSaE6BXtQy0x7R7v9IOmZ">Aesop Rock</a>), their gritty, lo-fi, male-female dynamic drew comparisons to contemporaries <a href="spotify:artist:59pWgeY26Q6yJy37QvJflh">Sleigh Bells</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5BYuBzqmTXwUDw2rYkwExr">the Kills</a>, but sounded a lot more like fellow San Franciscans <a href="spotify:artist:1OQRxZIPriIdtJCs1Dvd8w">Chrome</a>. However, before they could record their work, Binks left to join another band (<a href="spotify:artist:3kDriIhqNulTiUuGfLR3Wd">Saviours</a>) in 2011. Baker was forced to revamp the project. On her 2012 debut, Metal Moon, Baker finally recorded the work that she had started writing five years earlier. A spiritual combination of <a href="spotify:artist:4wLIbcoqmqI4WZHDiBxeCB">Sleater-Kinney</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6kFay2DQ5aZfeu5OsrF3Pw">the Walkmen</a> -- with a little more attention to the beat -- Baker crafted a set of blistering lo-fi alt-rock for the groovy hipster set. After testing a more angular new wave sound on the three-song Cataract EP, Baker released the LP Let It Pretend in late 2015 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Last+Gang+Records%22">Last Gang Records</a> (rounding out her lineup with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5AYYlSpMZRVbixlcm2EDUp">Erin McDermott</a> and drummer Tony Sevener). Drawing on groovier influences like <a href="spotify:artist:5NGO30tJxFlKixkPSgXcFE">the Police</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2qT62DYO8Ajb276vUJmvhz">XTC</a>, Let It Pretend was more polished, with bigger beats and warmer production, but no less jagged. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi