The Ghost Particles
The members of Madison’s Ghost Particles have been around and seen just about everything. Sometimes twice. The labyrinthian history goes something like this. Guitarist Dave Benton, a founding member of the band Spooner, operated one of the city’s finest record stores, MadCity Music, out of a Quonset hut and ran the esteemed Boat Records label. Phil Davis (vocals and guitar) wrote about music for alt weekly The Isthmus and reached for the brass ring with the band Firetown who had an album on Atlantic Records.
Davis was last seen in 2012 with the group The Emperors of Wyoming, whose 12-string guitarist was Butch Vig, Benton’s compadre in Spooner and Boat. A Bay View high school alum, bassist Joel Tappero, was also in Spooner. His son Jeremy—from South Milwaukee--drummed and engineered; he also plays bass with Soul Asylum. Keyboardist Don Irwin played with Benton in the instrumental group The Waterdogs, as well as The Rousers. That’s the short version.
The Ghost Particles album took shape in the fall of 2019, when the group planned an EP and live shows. The pandemic caused them to shift gears and they hunkered down to record parts in home studios. The collection of songs settles in like a favorite flannel shirt; worn-in with stories yet to tell. Davis’ vocals move from weary and resigned in “Fall Sway” (supported by sonic touches like a ping-pong guitar riff; perfect for headphones) to the buoyant opener “A Man Like Me.” Echoes of Portland prime movers The Wipers can be heard in “Brand New Day.”
“The Deal,” a plainspoken life lesson spiked with harmonica punctuations, is anchored by Irwin’s piano and organ parts. His playing is the foundation of the album. The near anthem “Crazy Broken World” breaks down a sense of overload, gladly trading it all for something simple and unexplainable.
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It feels odd to call this a debut album. These veterans long ago seem to have settled in for making great music for the sake of the song. If something more comes of it, great.
