Holiday Ghosts

Falmouth’s finest blend primal garage rock, rock’n’roll, DIY punk, blues and giddy exuberant tunefulness” The Guardian

“Retro garage-pop” Stereogum

“Full of big hooks and ramshackle charm” Brooklyn Vegan

“Holiday Ghosts’ scrappy, snappy rock & roll feels almost timeless” KEXP

“Rough hewn jingle-jangle with a heartwarming feel” Clash

Holiday Ghosts share brand new single ‘Big Congratulations’ (video here), out today (March 5th), marking the second reveal from the band’s upcoming fifth LP ‘Coat of Arms’ (pre-order here), set for release March 29th via cult indie label FatCat Records (TRAAMS, Honeyblood, The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks).

Arriving hot on the heels of acclaimed 2023 record ‘Absolute Reality’, the quartet’s forthcoming album captures several facets within their musical output; powerful, gut-punch punky garage rock; classic jangly indie pop; songs of protest and resistance, and songs that resonate emotion and introspection. Having already announced a mammoth UK headline tour for the spring, including a date at London’s Moth Club, Holiday Ghosts will also first make their debut trip stateside for appearances at SXSW and New Colossus Festival.

Speaking directly to the band’s social consciousness, while also maintaining their uplifting musical style, newest LP reveal ‘Big Congratulations’ is a rollicking number whose head-bopping chorus might be the catchiest of the bunch so far. Starting with an alt-country-tinged guitar line, the track culls from a rich history of 1980s UK indie pop (think classics like Shop Assistants or The Flatmates), but with a decidedly modern, 21st century spin. 

“The lyrics in ‘Big Congratulations’ are a sort of a narrative about excess, and the need to fulfill yourself with consumerism, keeping up with the Joneses,” remarks frontwoman Kat Rackin. “There's a constant promise of a better life with better connections through what you might purchase or how you can upgrade your life. At the end of the day, that quest for happiness can be more of a snake eating its own tail kind of thing.”

Much like previous single ‘Sublime Disconnect’, tracks like ‘Big Congratulations’ also speak to Holiday Ghosts’ ability to mesh cutting lyrics with attention-grabbing music - something that was expressly designed when writing ‘Coat of Arms’:

“One of the things that we really focus on is trying to get lyrics across as clearly as we can,” explains guitarist Sam Stacpoole. “Maybe 70 percent of what we really care about in the songs is making sure that we're singing lyrics that we are proud of, and that lead the song more than just a musical hook.” Kat continues: “Often, the way I write a lot of the songs is writing the words first, and then the music kind of grows around it. One nice thing about the band is that it's a real collaborative thing. So with the songwriting, especially with the ones on this album that Sam and I wrote together, we’ve really merged.”

With an array of support throughout the press community in recent years (The Guardian, The Independent, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, KEXP, DIY, Clash, So Young, The Line Of Best Fit), as well as repeated support on the BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq, Craig Charles, Mark Riley) and Radio X (John Kennedy) airwaves, Holiday Ghosts’ impeccable brand of garage rock has certainly attracted considerable attention across the board; whilst their thrilling live show has already seen them tick off slots at the likes of Latitude Festival and Left Of The Dial, in addition to supports with Black Lips, Bodega and The Bug Club amongst others.

Detailing the accompanying visuals, the group stated: “We've been wanting to go to the Elvis Festival in Porthcawl for years now and even had the idea to film a video there about 8 years ago, and finally managed to make it a reality. We didn't have any narrative planned out for this but after we found the elvis hat it all came together pretty seamlessly. I'd highly recommend going, it's pretty surreal and in their own words it's 'the largest festival of its kind in the world”.

Produced by Phil Booth and Sam Stacpoole, Holiday Ghosts’ ‘Big Congratulations’ is out now via FatCat Records and available on all digital platforms.

Holiday Ghosts is Katja Rackin (vocals, drums), Samuel Stacpoole (vocals, guitar, synth), Benedict Nightingale (guitar, backing vocals), Morgan Lloyd Matthews (bass)