Tag: Ghost Funk Orchestra Ocotillo

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Meditative and Introspective “A Hell Below”

Led by composer, multi-instrumentalist and creative mastermind Seth Applebaum, the New York-based psych soul outfit and JOVM mainstay act Ghost Funk Orchestra will be releasing their fifth album, Yours in The Ranks of Death through Karma Chief Records on December 4, 2026.

Reflective and ethereal, the JOVM mainstays’ fifth album reportedly finds Applebuam pairing down the sounds and conceptual underpinnings, providing his signature trippy grooves and cinematic arrangements a much cleaner pocket.

Yours is The Ranks of Death will include “Ocotillo,” which features Julia Zivic on lead vocals; “Yours” and “Leave Me Alone,” which feature Camellia Hartman on lead vocals; and the album’s latest single “A Hell Below,” which features longtime collaborator, Megan Mancini on lead vocals. Arguably one of the more introspective songs in the JOVM mainstays’ growing catalog, “A Hell Below” features a sparse arrangement of atmospheric and twinkling keys and strutting funk guitar. The production puts the jazzy drum pattern and Mancini’s vocal, singing with — and about — yearning for a past that seemed far simpler.

The song is rooted in the bittersweet, rose-colored nostalgia informed by getting older, of having more complicated responsibilities and obligations, of “growing up” in a world on fire, of the realization that you’ve also fucked things up royally and still have shit to learn.

As the band explains “A Hell Below” is a song about uncertainty; an ode to daydreaming about what might be missing in your life.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Ghost Funk Orchestra Shares Sultry and Cinematic “Ocotillo”

JOVM mainstay outfit Ghost Funk Orchestra originally started as a one-man recording project, helmed by its creative mastermind, composer and multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum. Since then, the project has evolved into a full-fledged 10 member, powerhouse band that fleshes out Applebaum’s vision — a sonic kaleidoscope that defies genre specifications, but draws deeply from soul, psych rock, psych soul and more.

“Ocotillo” is Ghost Funk Orchestra’s first bit of new, original since the release of 2024’s A Trip to the Moon. Opening with shimmering and strutting Rhodes, “Ocotillo” continues an incredible run of mind-bending yet cinematic soul with the song evoking sultry and stifling heat, dusty blacktop in front of you and in the rearview, rest stops, highway signs, trees and small towns flash by in a blur of dizzying sameness before finally getting a reprieve — through rain or higher altitude or the like.

“The ocotillo is an imposing figure, tall and reminiscent of a torch. I dedicated this song to the desert dwelling plant after a particularly challenging tour that took our band through the southwest,” Ghost Funk Orchestra’s Seth Applebaum explains. “After days of unbearable heat and humidity, reaching New Mexico surprisingly gave us some reprieve. After landing at the venue in Silver City, I took a walk to clear my head and observe the scenery as the mountain climate provided a more manageable atmosphere to exist and reflect in.”