Mostly Ghostly

Mostly Ghostly by State Bird: Sufjan Stevens, Sufjan Stevens, Sufjan Stevens. this is a curious record. There are so many elements here. How many people are in this band? It's got the feeling as if it's been constructed by one genius musician (i.e. Sufjan Stevens) or about 10 talented, exploring musicians (perhaps as a collective). Many of the songs seem to have two or more distinct passages that are woven together into one song.

Watch out: many of the tracks end early, so there's several seconds of silence at the end.
1: not really a song, more like spliced recording outtakes. intro track, whistling with accordian, some silences.
2: The Decemberists-ish vocals, prominent fuzzy bass, horns, a mandolin (or perhaps ukulele) various percussion. very full busy soundscape in this song.
*8: bass, xylophone, horns. song gets quiet and simple at 2:30-3:00 but then comes rolling back. hard end at -0:06.
9: starts soft but punchy. Gets loud half way through. track ends at -0:06
10: very present ukulele, soft male+fem vox, hand drum. dizzying, rhythm-based stereo panning for many instruments. song builds up towards the end with snare, horns everywhere.
11: vocal samples of cheering all over the place, some played in reverse. truly a racket, as the title suggests. no lyrics, but not an instrumental track either.
12: strummy guitar, screetching/ringing noise, whistling, weak male vocals. track ends at +3:30/-0:25

RIYL: Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists / FCC: All clean / REC: 4, 7, 8
Personal observation: the person who mixed this album must have been amused with themselves for panning various instruments all over the place. They should get over themselves and focus on producing something listenable in headphones. There's a lot of beautiful music here that's been clobbered by a crappy mix and sloppy mastering. (I wouldn't complain if everything about the record was experimental, or lo-fi. But it's not.) I expect that this group's next album will take them places. 3 of 5 stars.