LABARA’s “4 Specters” EP delivers a delicious chill to fit your Halloween playlist. Jump scare! Instead of being wall-to-wall bedroom doom, it’s your parents’ favorite musicians as zombies.

Or vampires. Or ghosts. Or eldritch horrors. Playlisted, the songs blend with classics. Listened on repeat, they bubble with sly wit.

Let’s go track-by-track. Four specters, four songs, fifteen minutes of horror rock. Listen on Bandcamp right here (opens in new tah) and then buy it!

Bleeding Out
I’ve talked about this one in detail already here. In context, it feels like the specter of alternative rock, bleeding out because the world is a vampire.

Talking to Ghosts (Who Don’t Believe in Me)
From its first rockabilly riff, this is my favorite track. The 1980s rockabilly revival love of microphone echoes finds its legit home here. Since blue eyes are crying in the rain, I’m guessing the ghost of Willie Nelson rattling his chains.

I want to read this as a metaphor for an artist’s relationship with musical forbears. It’d be a macabre twist on Leonard Cohen’s Tower of Song. Even as a straightforward love song, it’s twisty: your “little talks” aren’t going so hot.

Goes On
This track has an eerily comforting feel that I find hard to place. There’s a swing to the cadence, a sparkle to the instrumentation. It clicks as referencing 1980s Bowie with me; but that might be nostalgia. Or it might be the fading brain’s efforts to find patterns, as crows peck my neck bones.

Howl
The final horseperson of the apocalypse is the ghost of arena rock. Trappings of horror — distant wails, rattling chains — pile atop a convincing, energetic wail of rock guitars. The lyrics could launch a thousand tormented Tumblr gifsets. While being ironic about it, I unironically love it.

Slide at least one of these songs into a playlist of old favorites and see when your Halloween party guests notice. Trick or treat!