Exclusive video premiere of ‘Ghost Singer’ by Librarians With Hickeys, taken from the upcoming album, ‘Handclaps & Tambourines’, out October 14th, 2022 via Big Stir Records.

The second single from the new record, ‘Ghost Singer’ is accompanied by a brand new video from the Akron, Ohio jangle-rock favorites. It is as seasonally appropriate as could be as Halloween approaches. It follows last year’s double-sided hit ‘I Can’t Stop Thinking About You’ b/w ‘Stumbling Down Memory Lane’ as the third advance track from ‘Handclaps & Tambourines’ to tease the ears captivated by the band’s acclaimed 2020 debut ‘Long Overdue’. Both the track and the video feature guest appearances from Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome of The Armoires, lending some spectral singing to the spiraling twin guitars, melodious vocals and postpunky rhythmic drive conjured up by the full-time Librarians: singer/guitarist Ray Carmen, lead guitarist/vocalist Mike Crooker, bassist Andrew Wilco and drummer Rob Crossley.

Although there’s definitely a thread of spookiness running through the tune, the titular phrase isn’t of supernatural origin. The Wikipedia definition of a ghost singer is someone who records singing voices for actors and actresses to lip-synch on film, but in the Librarians With Hickeys song, a ghost singer is someone trying to communicate, but unable to be heard or understood. Ray Carmen sings the tale of a couple desperately trying to talk in a noisy crowded bar, while the harmonies of guitarist Mike Crooker, aided and abetted by Broome and Bulbenko, act as the ethereal Greek chorus. All of which is a reminder that in these uncertain times it’s always a good idea to tell someone you love them before it’s too late.

<a href="https://bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com/album/handclaps-tambourines">Handclaps & Tambourines by Librarians With Hickeys</a>

The video taps into the ambiguous sense of nostalgia, longing and mystery of the song: the band, reunited for live gigs after the pandemic layoff, appear mostly in shadow as they perform, with only Carmen’s face being featured as he delivers the vocal with the type of distance the lyrics suggest. Images swirl behind him, intercut with the backlit band, and they too are gauzy and indistinct… but far from meaningless: the vintage footage is of Carmen’s mom from the late 40s & early 50s, and there’s also footage of Ray’s dad and various scenes of the band’s native Akron, Ohio (blimp airdock, cemetery, Goodyear clocktower, fireworks) from the early 90s. Those shots have been rescued from the abandoned, dimly remembered toy video format Pixelvision, an incredibly primitive grainy visual recording tool that had a brief heyday as a medium for avant-garde video artists after being rejected by its toddler target audience. Far from Akron, in Burbank, California, Bulbenko and Broome appear in shadow as well, shot in an identical setup as the Librarians and adding even more of the handclaps and tambourines the album title promises.

‘Ghost Singer’ delivers the hooks and layered sonics fans have come to expect from our Librarians, while hinting at the deeper themes examined on ‘Handclaps & Tambourines’. With just weeks to go before the album materializes in full, it’s becoming ever more apparent that it’s the soundtrack to Autumn for guitar pop fans worldwide.

Headline photo: Grace Carmen

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