An extraordinarily haunting and powerful release by the experimental Irish folk band with a cover of the often topical 1981 Specials classic number, now with a different dimension of drone sounds, strings, rich vocal harmonies, piano and a climax of rippling synths and beats, released on Rough Trade. Lankum’s version was originally created for an Oona Doherty dance show, Specky Clark, at Sadler’s Well earlier this year, and now comes with a stunning 8-minute video shot in location in County Wicklow by renowned director Leonn Ward, with cinematography by award-winner Robbie Ryan.
As the band explain: “Ghost Town came to us through some curious circumstances. Oona Doherty, who we were familiar with through her phenomenal dance work on the video for Gilla Band’s Shoulderblades, contacted us and told us about a new show she was putting together. It was about her great-great-grandfather being sent to Belfast as a child to live with his aunts and work in an abattoir. She wanted a new piece of music for the show, for a party scene set on Halloween night, and told us she wanted it to start out indistinguishable and woozy, before developing into the very recognisable track by The Specials. At first we were slightly reticent, since a cover of a ska tune wasn’t something we’d usually ever consider, but after a bit of deliberation we decided we’d give it a shot, and the result took us on an incredibly enjoyable journey that had us gleefully playing with synthesisers and drum machines in Hellfire Studios, trying to come up with the scaldiest 90s sounding techno for the outro section of the track.”
Oona Doherty adds: “I was listening to Lankum and it inspired me to write this dance theatre play called Specky Clark using a lot of their music. But for one scene which happens on Halloween night Samhain. I asked the band could they make me a cover of ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials. And they bloody did. ‘All the clubs have been closed down’. I think this line still hits hard all these years later and in a dub accent speaks to housing crises, the poverty, the privatization of Ireland. They also managed to make the track rip through this physical plane of existence and dance in the other world…. only Lankum can do that.”
The single will also be available as a 12inch vinyl in January. To explore and enjoy more by Lankum, best known for their acclaimed 2023 album False Lankum, see also the other embedded links below.
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