Get ready GLOheads, ’cause Ghostland are back! That’s right people, after what many considered far too long of a hiatus, the electro-pop-rock duo known for their crazy rainbow laser light show are back in action and coming to melt Portland’s face this Friday night.
For those of you not in the know, Ghostland Observatory is the amalgamation of two friends with two very different tastes in music, who together form a deliciously charismatic reverberation of sonic enjoyment capped off with a visually stunning, polychromatic laser display—or at least that’s how the folks at Pitchfork might describe it. We see it more as the combination of frontman Aaron Behrens’ love of rock, blues and psychedelia combined with keyboardist, drummer and producer Thomas Ross Turner’s analog-style disco beats. It’s like Freddie Mercury fronting Daft Punk.
Formed in 2003, the Austin, Tex., duo have amassed a huge following—known as GLOheads—due to their genre-bending sound and impressive and immersive live performances. With the merging of electro beats, rock, soul and funk, Behrens and Turner manage to create an atmospheric explosion out of minimalist playing. After four studio albums (the most recent being 2010’s Codename Rondo) and hundreds of high-energy shows, the members of Ghostland announced a solemn hiatus on their Facebook page in mid-2013. Not many knew why, and it was a sad day in the GLO world.
But now, after a short stint as solo musicians, Behrens and Turner are back and have announced a small yet tantalizing tour of the West Coast, including a stop in our very own backyard. What better way to rejoice than to break out your sparkle wear, head down to the Crystal Ballroom on Friday night, and dance and sweat under the shimmering rays of hundreds of kaleidoscopic lasers?
