Whenever an actor tries to switch mediums to that of music, there is always the question of whether this actor can really sing (or play an instrument) than just looking at the album as done by a musician. The latest to give musicianship a go is Academy Award-nominated actor Ryan Gosling. His project with Zach Shields was initially concocted as a full-blown ghost story stage musical. However, as the ideas began to materialize, an album seemed a more reasonable (and cheaper) approach. The team succeeds in creating a haunting album based on ghosts, haunted houses, and general creepiness (perfect given the time of year) all the while half sung in a muffled doowop/50s crooner-esque voice. From the opening seconds of eerie oohs and ahhs, the mood of the album is established and maintained throughout (along with its feeling of roughness as takes did not exceed three and some instruments had never before been played by either Gosling or Shields), even when a children's choir is called upon to sing the (somewhat inappropriate) lyrics. The choir actually works extremely well (the kids appear on roughly half the tracks) especially on the ghost story song "Buried In Water" and the ballad (?) "My Body's a Zombie For You." But not everything gels as hoped on this self-titled debut; "Pa Pa Power" is the attempt at an 80s Goth/synth inspired number feels out of place among the album's other offerings and, at times, the album has a kind of "look how creative and creepy we are!" feeling that comes off as somewhat tiresome. While Ryan Gosling will still be remembered as the "actor Ryan Gosling" and not the "musician Ryan Gosling" after this release, he and Shields have made an album that proves that he is a creative musician who can set his sights on a goal and reach it. A nice, little odd/creepy/poppy (lots of handclaps and doowop vocals) release to appease the tastes of open-minded listeners.
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