Chicago Indie-Rock Band Red Scarves Release Their Folkier EP "Ghost Hunter"
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Chicago indie band Red Scarves has been writing and releasing music over the past decade ever since two of their members first met in a class on Bob Dylan in college. They moved to Chicago six years ago after graduating from Illinois Wesleyan University. Now with a solidified lineup, each member contributes to songwriting.
Chicago Magazine recently recommended the album (at the bottom of Ari Lindo’s album review), writing “The jangly pop quartet marries throwback sounds with 21st-century neuroticism on this EP, ahead of a full-length album in 2023.”
NPR-affiliate station WGLT in Bloomington, IL wrote their 2017 album Sort of Scarlet is a "pop-rock gem," highlighting the band members' background in jazz and classical makes for "catchy and at times complex pop songs."
Ghost Hunter is simpler but layered, and their jazzy and classical influences still pop up on the EP — just more subtly. The songs range from more baroque pop on the title track “Ghost Hunter” to the wistful twang of "Robin,” featuring pedal steel from Ben Carbone.
They recorded both Ghost Hunter and their upcoming album, Nice Try, on tape with Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Lala Lala, Makaya McCraven) last year.
As songwriter Ayethaw Tun told Psychedelic Baby Magazine, “Tying the EP together is the band recording each song live as a four-piece on 16-track tape at Palisade Recordings in Chicago by local studio wiz, Dave Vettraino. The majority of the songs were born out of living in that space of unease and uncertainty back in 2020, with songs dealing with loneliness, memories of childhood, and inspiration itself.”
He continued, “The term ‘ghost hunter’ comes from the first song, written by our bassist/guitarist, Ryan Donlin. He describes the feeling of having big ideas form in our heads for the next big song/project/solution to a problem/etc. But when we sat down with an instrument and a pen in hand, those ideas begin to escape him and the harder he tries to capture that incredible feeling of that idea, the further it slips away. This EP features the rare moments those ideas are captured and realized in full.”
