Relaxed and atmospheric, across forty minutes of unshakable beauty, the debut album from Irish musician Jeff Martin, AKA Ghost Maps, flirts with masterpiece territory. When listening to The Ocean From The River, it’s certainly not difficult to see what it is about the Dubliner’s solo project that has landed him slots in support of the National and Lambchop, amongst plenty others. With a record finally out, word is bound to spread quickly about one of the genre-spanning strength of one of Ireland’s freshest and most intriguing acts.
For many, ‘Vanilla’ will have been the first taste of the album, a precursor to the official release made available as a free download one month prior. Before Ghost Maps, much of Martin’s work had been with instrumental band Halfset, but adding his calmly delivered vocals into the mix gives the track far more potential to engage. Martin’s vocals are certainly a selling point of the ensemble, but it’s hard to argue that any piece of the puzzle fails to play its part on record. ‘The Ocean and a Lover’ and ‘Echoes Last Forever’ are blissful, transportative pieces that show just how powerful Ghost Maps can be when all of Martin’s talents are made use of, while ‘If I Knew Where I Was I’d Be There’ shows that even when the vocals are removed from the equation, the album continues to blossom in a manner unlike which any album has achieved this year.
The Ocean From The River is a soundtrack to almost any day, a multi-purpose and laid back record from a musician who has an amazing talent for capturing beauty. The combination of the folk-pop ‘Fade’ and its instrumental follow-up track ‘Prevails’ would be enough on its own to have superb feelings about Ghost Maps’ potential, but put on a debut album where either track barely stands out amongst a crowd of equally powerful efforts, and you have a strong claim to be one of 2013’s best debut albums. ‘The Valleys’, as the album’s last proper track, is a step closer to soft-rock, and it leads into the outro of ‘There’. Returning to the more laid back sound that Ghost Maps does best, ‘There’ closes things out by once again shining the spotlight back on Martin’s sometimes understated lyrical strength, with a title that seems to say “Yep, there, it’s done. You’re welcome”.
There’s a lot to thank Martin for, with all things considered. In an album that only just grazes the forty minute mark, the name Ghost Maps has been cemented into your mind and isn’t likely to leave it in a hurry. The project is not Martin’s only work in progress, but you would hope that there is a lot more to come from the Irishman under the Ghost Maps name. The Ocean From The River has certainly got heads turning in his direction.
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