Fresh off winning Best Rock Album of the Year at the iHeart Radio Music Awards, Ghost announces the coming of PHANTOMIME, a five-song covers EP intended from the start to follow last year’s international chart-topping opus IMPERA. A diverse and spellbinding sampling of the GRAMMY Award-winning band’s musical DNA, PHANTOMIME is comprised of covers of classics and deep cuts by Television, Genesis, The Stranglers, Iron Maiden and Tina Turner. PHANTOMIME pays tribute in equal measure to every one of these unlikely bedfellow, influences while stamping them all with Ghost’s undeniable sonic signature.
The announcement of PHANTOMIME’s impending release also solves the mystery of Ghost’s recent “Jesus Is Coming” campaign, as referenced in the Good Friday premiere of the newest installment of the band’s long-running webisode series, Chapter 17: Nap Time. PHANTOMIME’s May 18 release via Loma Vista Recordings is heralded by Ghost’s interpretation of Genesis’ 1992 satirical stab at televangelists “Jesus He Knows Me,” available now to stream and download, and as an instant grat track with pre-orders of the EP.
This second coming of “Jesus He Knows Me” is accompanied by an Alex Ross Perry-directed video that will surely make the case that one person’s beauty is another’s blasphemy. Culminating in a climactic ritual that must be seen to be believed, Ghost’s visual interpretation of “Jesus He Knows Me” rises to the occasion in unholy fashion — and then some. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Easter Sunday release of the “Jesus He Knows Me” track and video continues two established Ghost traditions: 1) Following up the release of a full length studio album with uniquely Ghost-ified cover versions, past efforts having included reinterpretations of favorites by Abba, The Beatles, Depeche Mode, Roky Erickson, Eurythmics, Metallica, Pet Shop Boys and many more; and 2) Challenging, confronting and upending societal conventions and authority figures, often taking on specific antagonists — in this case, Father Jim DeFroque, host of the evangelical radio show Jesus Talk with Father Jim DeFroque on KLAQ in El Paso TX — and also star of the “Jesus He Knows Me” video.
