Dead Coyote
Apparitionata
(Dead Coyote)

Portland’s Dead Coyote delivers a spooky concept EP with Apparitionata, a release they call “a cyclical tale of a foolish ghost with a broken heart.” As is apparent from plodding pronouncing on opener “Prelude,” Zach Retzl, Adrian Retzl, Jonathan Ventrella, and Izabella Weiss are marching forward with their collective tongues in their cheeks wallowing deeply in campy horror, as well as tickling through Beethoven and contemporary composers like Danny Elfman and Phillip Glass.

Things kick into ridiculous (in a good way) full gear on “Leave Me in the Ground,” the piano sounding like The Munster theme, as synth strings rise, drums move along, and Dead Coyote get positively Hammer with it!

The wonderful harmonies at the song’s end into solid piano playing that flows into “Lazy Ghost” is just a delicious touch. If I liked “Leave Me in the Ground,” I really dug “Lazy Ghost” with its shouting, heavier drums, and big scary rock riffing. The chorus even mines a slight (dare I say this) romantic lilt in its high sailing backing. The rising oohs’ and the guitar wailing in the background are just perfect!

Damn, I love this kind of stuff. Why aren’t more bands aware of themselves like this? I hear such humorless posing mostly these days. By the time the squirrely electric riff comes at the end of “Lazy Ghost,” I was up and dancing.

We get into Jim Steinman territory by the ender, “My Hiding Place,” a perfect over-the-top capper to what I feel is a perfectly executed horror-humor EP from Dead Coyote. Apparitionata will scare you and make you laugh, so wonderfully.