Post-rock band from Phoenix, Arizona, Ghost Island seeks to relive your most ecstatic bliss just before confronting your most impenetrable fears. The band’s music makes you feel far from home while offering a comforting solace that comes from within.

John conceived the concept of Assimilation after a failed suicide attempt following the end of a nearly four-year relationship. With the help of Roddy and Michael, the songs became expressive tales taking the listener through the range of emotions that comes with entering and exiting a relationship for a person with clinical depression. Rather than any spoken word, the song titles themselves offer a glimpse into the mindset of the performers, allowing listeners to interpret the music however they see fit. Ultimately, the album concludes on a positive note, asserting that it is okay to be different and okay to assimilate into your environment in order to get the human interaction we all need in order to function. Like the previous release, Destroyer, Assimilation was recorded entirely in house by John, who also handled mixing duties as well as art direction.

“Like it was stated, the entire album was conceptualized after some massive heartbreak on my end, and I wanted to push out those emotions I felt, when I looked back on my long relationship, as a form of closure. I wanted to put that chapter behind me, and felt that I did an excellent job doing it. With the help of both Roddy and Michael I was able to achieve something I firmly believe will be a point of pride not only of my own opinion, but that of all the band members.”

Merchants of Air, Review:

“A calm, lucid, quiet and very modest post-rock album, Assimilation can be considered a minor masterpiece, specially taking into consideration its precise and detailed technicality. Although excessively calm throughout its whole ordeal, there’s a singular vitality within the music, and it’s impossible to be indifferent to it. With complex arrangements and conscious, abundant and methodic melodies, Assimilation is an interesting album, that really evaluates and inserts into a more embracing panorama the sonorous devices of the genre, over a mixture of traditional devotion and modest originality.

CannedSound, Review:

“The title track breathes like a cool winter breeze. Don’t be mistaken, the song still has its punishing moments, but there’s a hopefulness that didn’t exist before; a hopefulness that was hard-won."

REMASTERED EDITION

Ghost Island is a post-rock band from Phoenix and they seek to relive your most ecstatic bliss just before confronting your most impenetrable fears. The band’s music makes you feel far from home while offering a comforting solace that comes from within.

Initially planned as a small EP release by John, Destroyer blossomed into a full-length album once John and Roddy began collaborating. Written from a place of self-reflection, the album reflects John’s crumbling network and inner circle of friends, stemming from his previous band's breakup; Destroyer takes a dark journey through nine tracks full of doubt, anger, fatigue, and loss. Recorded entirely in a small bedroom in Phoenix, Arizona, and mixed in-house, Destroyer represents the initial foundations of a band still discovering it’s identity while trying to survive as individuals. The album was first released independently by the band in 2015. Three years later, Fluttery Records releases a remastered re-issue of the album.

John Romero of Ghost Island says, “This album represented a fresh start and a huge release of emotions following the break up of Cassiopeia, my previous band. It was an honor to be able to work with Roddy, as we soon discovered that we push each other musically, and compliment each other’s style so very well. The album is still very experimental to me, as there is one whole concept surrounding the title itself, but each song on this album stands well on its own and doesn’t need any back story to help understand it.

The Siren Sound: "Each track on ‘Destroyer’ constantly opens new avenues to explore, but in a continuous and structured fashion. That in mind, the real pride and exultation of Ghost Island debut is how they’ve managed to put together such beautiful noises yet remaining extremely approachable without losing their sense of adventure. This debut album can shift between accessible to enigmatic and back without you even noticing it. That’s how fluid the sound is. Truthfully speaking, the final outcome is outstanding; how outstanding it is though, is up to you to decide, but there is no denying that what the music Ghost Island creates is something else, something rarely found from other musicians in the same scene.”