• Listen at: www.myspace.com/ghostbuffalo
• Available on: Amazon MP3, eMusic

Ghost Buffalo is a four-piece band out of Denver. The line-up on The Magician is their second incarnation - the band is anchored by Matt Belinger, formerly of Planes Mistaken For Stars, and vocalist Marie Litton but drummer Jed Kopp and bassist Ben Williams are new additions.

The Magician is Ghost Buffalo’s second album. It has a distinctly 90s-circa-Smashing Pumpkins retro feel to it (christ, are the late 90s already retro? I feel old.). The album hangs on the vocals, delivered in a smoky alt-country style. The pace is on the mellow side, but even on the faster songs where you can really hear the band’s punk influences (”The Latest Wonder”), Marie’s vocals keep the tone of the album relaxed. Musically, the album is very much country influenced guitar rock with bits and pieces of punk thrown in to shake things up. The Magician manages to be coherent without becoming ten versions of the same song, despite the almost constant mid-tempo pacing.

Standout tracks are “The Latest Wonder,” “Fire Walk With Me” and “Just A Thought.”