The World is Haunted comes out of the San Francisco indie band, “Swell,” and drummer Sean Kirkpatrick, (whose drumming style has been described as Can’s Jaki Liebezeit, meets Stuart Copeland). After years of thinking about TWIH music, but head & heals into painting (seankirkpatrick.com) time eventually presented itself to make… some… music. Now based in Santa Barbara, with the love for 70’s dub reggae, ambient (think Harold Budd’s “Plateaux of Mirror”), old delta blues, and classics like PIL’s “Metal Box,” coupled with a current discovery of say, Fontaines DC, might give you TWIH. TWIH could be sinister, and approachable, and is a rotating family of friends: Swell bassist Monte Vallier adds his colors to a few, whilst Craig Grey from The Toiling Midgets plays guitar on the song “Fly Now.” Bill Churchill from Tower of Power fame, gives a trumpet solo on “The Right Step.” Is this helping the reader understand TWIH? With no real restrictions, the next TWIH release may be something a little different than the former.”
“Life Sonically cast, perhaps in the past…. rhythm to spaces we’re glad to go. We all knew The World Is Haunted, this is what it sounds like…it sounds really good. It’s definitely something new, yet I sense a bit of deja vu in the grooves. Earth, surf, in the midst of storms raging…. somewhere.”-Commander Todd Ciske, GM/PD, WFAQ-LP FM
“That feeling of warmth, and a touch of the dead, dancing with the bass and drums.” —Evelyne, in Paris
“There’s something eerie, like a world on the edge of a sinkhole in TWIH.” —Bruno Polaroid
“We had the opportunity to interview the eternal Sean Kirkpatrick of Swell and The World is Haunted, who talked to us about The World is Haunted, Art Blakey, Can, The Police, Television, War, Donna Summer, Led Zeppelin, and Japan.” Radio interview with Sean on his drumming style on French radio -Froggy’s Delight
“SWELL’s emerging drummer Sean Kirkpatrick has just released The Right Step, a new track with his project The World is Haunted . Once again, this is a meeting between Sean, who also sings and keyboards, and other musicians: Danny Ornelas – Bass, A88y – Vocals, Bill Churchville – Trumpet solo. There’s something eerie, like a world on the edge of a sinkhole in this piece. Fascinating discomfort reinforced by video. And a bonus, our mention of Swell… To discover!” –Bruno Polaroid, Carotte Rock Cultures
“Alors que nous sommes sans nouvelles de David Freel depuis l’ère Be My Weapon (Talitres), deux ex-Swell se rabibochent et viennent frapper à la porte avec The World is Haunted. Sean Kirkpatrick a fondé Swell avec David Freel à la fin des années 80 et a écrit les plus beaux disques des années 90. On attend, depuis plus de dix ans, des nouvelles de Freel. Pour continuer à sagement patienter, on peut écouter les morceaux de The World is Haunted, le nouveau projet de Kirkpatrick, produit par Monte Vallier, bassiste de feu Swell. On navigue entre le dub et le krautrock, on surnage entre deux vagues de l’océan Pacifique.” –Soul Kitchen
“It kind of feels like being in an old-Hollywood film noir; the atmosphere that the songs envelope the listener into. Some of the songs also feel very 70’s jazz-rock-ish, while others have an early 80s LA underground feel reminiscent of say Psi COM. The drumming is fantastic rhythmically, but the bass is absolutely sublime as well. The low end+rhythm have such a wonderfully dark and hypnotic quality to them.” –Whelan Bourke
