Mad Planet sounds like love-lorn aliens high on MDMA crashing spaceships into the Pacific Ocean or “Neo-Cosmic Rhythm Electronica” as one of their fans put it. Their sophomore album Ghost Notes (release date: August 28, 2012) is a rhythmic and spirited exploration of love and commitment.

What started as colorful musings in vocalist/bassist Cooper Gillespie’s notebook and song sketches on guitarist Tony Crouse and drummer Greg Gordon’s Macbooks was crafted into an album at producer Ethan Allen’s (The 88, Tricky, Gram Rabbit) Royal Triton studio as well as Red Star Recording in Silverlake, CA and the infamous Hicksville Trailer Palace recording studio in Joshua Tree, CA. Allen and Mad Planet worked tirelessly on the album over the course of four months unveiling layers of dark, twinkling synths, delicious grooves, magnificent washes of drums, gigantic bass lines and sexy guitars which Cooper’s sultry vocals float effortlessly above.

Ghost Notes explores the many facets of desire from ecstatic eroticism (Inside Outburst) to questioning monogamy (Two of Us), from post-break-up longing (Pieces of You) to the album’s final track Slowly I Turn, a haunting acoustic guitar-led track where Gillespie ruminates about love after death:  

“Someday I’ll wake up from this dream
And this will all be over
And I will regret nothing
And when the time comes to swim for the other shore
Slowly I turn around and wait for you.”  

The result is a beautifully constructed album with music that touches the highs and lows of human emotion.

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