The New Music

Is there any way to approach Dead Man’s Bones without addressing the fact that actor Ryan Gosling is one-half of the duo? While he’s done well in obscuring his celebrity in the murky promo shots, there’s no denying fans of his will approach his music the same way they do his movies and be taken aback.

However, if you take a close look at Gosling’s résumé beyond The Notebook – he played a loner in love with a blow-up doll, a high school teacher addicted to crack, a Jewish neo-Nazi, er, Young Hercules – and the eerie sounds creeping out of Dead Man’s Bones makes quite a bit of sense.

This isn’t a vanity project. Gosling met Zach Shields in Toronto, and after learning they shared a taste for the macabre (”ghosts, monsters, graveyards, zombies or anything deathly”) and especially the Haunted Mansion ride at the Disney theme parks they began writing a monster-driven stage show and then music, even though neither of them were professional musicians.

Taking a cue from the Langley Schools Music Project, the two brought in a children’s singing group, named the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir, to help them bring their music to life.

According to the band, their self-titled album is “doo-wop songs about werewolves, haunting melodies telling tales of zombies with broken hearts, and children singing the joys and pains of being alive or being dead.”

Produced by Imarobot’s Tim Anderson, the album is full of rickety instrumentation, ghoulish whispers, spooky choral verses, erratic arrangements and echo-drenched, yet rustic production, Dead Man’s Bones lives up to its intentions. Although it’s undeniably a concept album, Gosling and Shields are careful to not only see that it inhabits the projected creepiness, but also guarantee that there are some songs to take away from it.

“My Body’s A Zombie For You” has the ascending uplift of a standard Arcade Fire anthem, and “Werewolf Heart” sounds like it could have been recorded with the goofy phantoms inside the Haunted Mansion living room.

“Young and Tragic” puts the Langley Schools influence to work best, as the Choir sing over an imposing oscillating synthesizer, while “Paper Ships” blends doo-wop with sparse Southern gothic folk and maybe, if my ears don’t deceive me a Theremin.

They even have their own self-titled theme song, which sounds as if they hired zombies, chain gangs and gravediggers to sit in as session musicians.

Why Gosling hasn’t tested his acting chops with horror is a mystery, but if he ever decides to he’s got the right band to compose the score.

Artist: Dead Man’s Bones
Album: Dead Man’s Bones
Release Date: October 6, 2009
Label: Anti (Epitaph)
Author: Cam Lindsay
First Spin Live Until: October 13, 2009

Track Listing:

1. Intro
2. Dead Hearts
3. In The Room Where You Sleep
4. Buried In Water
5. My Body’s A Zombie For You
6. Pa Pa Power
7. Young And Tragic
8. Paper Ships
9. Lose Your Soul
10. Werewolf Heart
11. Dead Man’s Bones
12. Flowers Grow Out Of My Grave