I thought I’d do something a little different this time around in my review. An unintentional link to the time of release, but Fort Lauderdale siblings The Haunt released their album the day before Halloween and, given their name is spooky adjacent, it felt appropriate to go with a themed artist. The band, consisting of brother and sister Anastasia Grace Haunt on lead vocals and Maxamillion Haunt on guitar and backing vocals, broke into the scene with their debut self-titled EP in 2018 which debuted to much acclaim due to its opening single All Went Black, which tackles Anastasia’s experiences dealing with bullies and how she discovered an outlet in music. The debut EP even earned them a tour supporting Palaye Royale.
However, the band’s latest release, Ghost, is an expertly crafted album of poppy hooks and more relatable lyrics. For me, “I used to call it seasonal depression, but it’s every season now” on Seasonal Depression hit hard. As somebody who suffers from depression myself, a lot of this album speaks to me with how honest it is. She doesn’t hold back to just make it a joyful listen throughout, despite its upbeat tempo and frequent use of self deprecation which I’m all too familiar with. Perfectly shown on track 4, Worst Taste In Men where she sings “found a new narcissist and I love him to death” as well as “you really fuck up my life, oh but that’s just my type” so while she’s angry at the experience, she’s partially blaming herself in an almost comical way. Us depressed folk love ironically blaming ourselves see, it’s a blast! Later on in the album we get Six Feet Underneath which sees Anastasia questioning why things are going wrong in it’s incredibly poignant chorus including the lyrics “they say everything’s gonna be fine, but if everything’s going alright why am I such a mess? Maybe I’m just depressed” which is actually something I find myself asking on a regular basis when I’m having a particularly rough day.
So to say this album hit me at the perfect moment would be an understatement, sometimes the exact album you need to hear happens to release precisely when you need it and maybe The Haunt did just that with Ghost. Music can be an incredibly powerful thing and perhaps hearing this when I did has helped it become a little more highly rated than it would any other person or time. But that’s just proof of the power of music and lyrics you can totally relate with. It’s an entirely subjective art form of course and not everyone will agree on the impact it has on them individually. Each of its singles before the full album release were of very high quality in this writer’s opinion and having been a fan of the band for a few years at this point, this one even exceeded my expectations. For that, I can only thank these two siblings and recommend their latest album to anyone going through some stuff right now. They paint a picture with their lyrics and it could do a lot to help you through your struggles just as it has for me.
For this album, Comic Book Clique rates it a high nine with its standout tracks being Six Feet Underground, Worst Taste In Men and Favorite Way To Die.