GHOSTWOMAN - Welcome to the Civilized World - On their 4th LP, Ghostwoman are a sharper beast than ever, offering hypnotic spells of psych-grunge, decaying Americana and ragged blues - There is no reason for GHOSTWOMAN's fourth album to exist. Welcome to the Civilized World is born to a broken world; a corrupt inheritance - Evan Uschenko and Ille van Dessel are under no illusions about it's futility - and yet, this thing is alive. It's an allergic reaction to the times we are living in: a welt that screams to be itched, the purging of a modern sickness they could no longer stomach. Beyond rationality, this record came from a place of gut feeling and a lack of any other option. Hell may have cracked wide open - but GHOSTWOMAN will not go quietly. GHOSTWOMAN is a head-on collision between the switchblade rust of Uschenko's guitars and van Dessel's caustic drum beats which march them on toward a shared oblivion. This album is a pure distillation of their shared vision. The band's process is intuitive rather than calculated; sounds are made in a chain reaction to one another. "5 Gold Pieces", with it's filthy guitars and snarling, livewire vocals was recorded as a test after they bought a tape machine. The first shot is often the best, and that test is what you hear today. Everything they used to record is gone. "We buy old equipment or instruments which have a bunch of life and soul in it until we've used it all up, and then sell it again so we can buy something else," explains Van Dessel. Welcome to the Civilized World is not concerned with making music for an audience, not for the music industry and not for any particular point other than the thrill of it. Nothing matters, we are all doomed, the sun will swallow the earth and our efforts turn to dust anyway. The band will continue to play as the ship goes down.