The Ghost is Clear

Exohxo’s The Ghost Is Clear (2015) is a tight six-song EP that plays like a fully formed album—hooky, restless, and emotionally specific, with arrangements that widen the frame just when you think you’ve got the map. “Past Lives” sets the tone fast: bright, clean melodies paired with lyrics that feel uneasy about nostalgia and certainty. The band’s pacing is a strength throughout—sections pivot before they go stale, so even the most singable moments keep their edge. “Parting Shots” is the EP’s first big statement: a chorus built for a room to shout back, but with a sharper, more skeptical emotional core than the sugar rush suggests. “Up To Me” shifts into something lighter on the surface, but it carries a persistent undertow—the push and pull between leaving, staying, and the stories you tell yourself to make either choice feel livable. “Same As Always” acts like a pressure release—short, direct, and blunt enough to reframe what came before it. By the time “You Can’t Know” arrives, the EP leans into boundaries and limits: less pleading, more declarative. Closer “Trains That Look Like Towns” lands like an exit scene—still melodic and driving, but with the feel of someone choosing motion over resolution. What sticks is the consistency of intent. The Ghost Is Clear delivers immediacy without sacrificing craft: an EP full of choruses you’ll remember, and details that keep unfolding on repeat listens.