I was on the treadmill at the gym this morning (really, I was) suffering through those torturous first five minutes, fast-forwarding through my workout playlist looking for something — anything — to motivate me passed the point of giving up. Deep into my playlist of power songs, I landed upon a pair of long forgotten, much loved motivators from the past: “Battles On” from the Ghost Is Dancing (2004-2009), the much-missed power-pop collective; and “Sleeping Patterns” by Powers, the electro-indie-pop band who crackled to life in 2011 from the remnants of The Ghost Is Dancing.
Imagine New Order doing a surf-pop cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” and you’ll get a hint of where 2011’s “Sleeping Patterns” is coming from. It’s the anthemic sleeper hit from Powers’ self-titled lone release that never fails to get my adrenaline pumping. It’s mind boggling why it was never a massive hit. Ditto for “Battles On”, from the Ghost Is Dancing’s 2009 final release of the same name. My heart still beats in double time when its reverberating guitars kick into high gear. In my opinion, both “Battles On” and “Sleeping Patterns” are overlooked, underappreciated jewels from a pair of associated bands that regrettably ended far too soon.
And yet, there’s hope. Followers of the Ghost Is Dancing’s Facebook page may have noticed that the ghosts appear to be stirring once again. Could the pattern of silence around the Ghost Is Dancing and Powers be ending soon? Be still my maximized-cardio beating heart.
