Ghost Palace by The Burning Hell
The Burning Hell have been writing party anthems about the apocalypse since before the apocalypse arrived at the party. With “Ghost Palace,” the band presents their most joyful collection of songs about death to date, always finding something to smile about in the decay. Mathias Kom’s maximalist lyrics are underlined with fluorescent highlighter, with surprising twists and turns through pop culture, animal life, history, architecture, and science fiction. Pathos and bathos vie for equal time, the sublime snuggling up with the trivial, revealing moments of humour and beauty in the mire.
But “Ghost Palace” doesn’t dwell directly on the end of the world. Instead, the songs assume that our time running out is a foregone conclusion, and focus instead on what we might leave behind when we go, what might endure, and what surprises might be found amidst the remnants. Memory and the debatable usefulness of nostalgia are primary concerns here, peppered with occasional suggestions that we just might still contain the tiny, hopeful seeds of our own redemption through community and balance.
The Burning Hell will be touring “Ghost Palace” throughout 2025.
Tracklist
| 1. | Celebrities in Cemeteries | 4:16 |
| 2. | My Home Planet | 2:09 |
| 3. | Brazil Nuts and Blue Curaçao | 4:23 |
| 4. | Luna FM | 5:08 |
| 5. | What Does It Do and How Does It Work | 3:58 |
| 6. | Bottle of Chianti, Cheese and Charcuterie Board | 2:42 |
| 7. | Summer Olympics | 3:25 |
| 8. | Duck vs. Decorated Shed | 3:52 |
| 9. | Birds of Australia | 4:55 |
| 10. | Strange Paradise | 3:24 |
| 11. | Ghost Palace | 3:36 |
Videos
Credits
Ghost Palace was made by Mathias Kom, Ariel Sharratt, Jake Nicoll and Maria Peddle, with special guests:
Carlie Howell - double bass (tracks 6 & 9)
Steven Lambke - electric guitar (4 & 11)
Amy Nicoll - oboe (5), vocals (9)
José Contreras - organ (5), vocals (1)
Additional vocals: Pamela MacKenzie, Jenina MacGillivray, Orson Welles, the capcom and crew of the Apollo 10 mission, and a selection of some of the greatest birds of Australia, including the Laughing Kookaburra, Willie Wagtail, Australian Magpie, Eastern Rosella, and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo.
All songs by Mathias Kom, with Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll (tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 9), Maria Peddle (2, 3, 7, 8, 9), Steven Lambke (4, 11), and Carlie Howell (6). All songs © 2021/2024 SOCAN / All rights reserved.
We recorded most of this at the Souris Show Hall and the Fairfield Social Club in Epekwitk / PEI in 2023 and 2024, with additional recording at Vessel Studios in Tottenham Hale, Studio J in St. John’s, and José’s studio in Toronto. Carlie and Steve recorded their bass and guitar parts at their own homes in Iris and the Bickerton Autonomous Zone, respectively. ‘Celebrities in Cemeteries’ and ‘What Does It Do and How Does It Work’ were mixed by José; everything else was mixed by Jake. The album was mastered by Norman Nitzsche at Mokik in Berlin. Ariel Sharratt made the album art with her hands.
Thanks to Steve and Quintus at You’ve Changed Records and BB*Island for their support and patience. Thanks to Al Harle for helping us figure out what we were trying to do with a couple of these tunes, and thanks to the folks who listened and responded to the earliest versions of many of them, which appeared on Mathias’ 2021 RPM Challenge album Put Away Your Troubles, Shoot A Crossbow For A While. Thanks to Richard Loyn for showing us some of the birds of Australia and for his inspirational research at the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee. Thanks to the Souris Show Hall for providing such a wonderful space to record. Thanks to Mathias’ supporters on Patreon, particularly these legends: Mary Agnes Krell, Simon Liljestrand, Antony Ledger, Christian Dreissigacker, Brendan Garvin, Jim Cowdrill, Frank Flood, Hudson Reynolds, Dylan Jones, Steven Ellis, and Hans Lehrach. Thanks to our label-mates on You’ve Changed and BB*Island and everyone we’ve shared tour vans and stages with, especially Shotgun Jimmie, Jeffrey Lewis, Steven Lambke, By Divine Right, Kelly McMichael, and Toby Goodshank.
Most of all, thanks to anybody out there who is still trying to save the world. The fight is worth it.
License
All rights reserved.
The Burning Hell is the ongoing musical project of songwriter Mathias Kom and multi-instrumentalists Ariel Sharratt and Jake Nicoll, often including additional comrades and collaborators.
Their densely populated genre-shifting songs are packed with an abundance of literary, historical, cultural, and pop-cultural forebears, heroes and villains, subjects and objects, stories and hooks.