HIGHWAY GHOST • Nightmares • LP

Brainwasher Records / Half Bear Half Cat

Helsinki’s HIGHWAY GHOST crawl out of the fog with Nightmares, a debut LP that sounds like heartbreak recorded in a haunted basement. It’s gloomy, dreamlike, and rough around the edges — the kind of record that makes you want to wander through empty streets or frozen woods. They ride the line between garage punk snarl and post-punk melancholy, like Dead Moon getting lost in a Wipers b-side while the tape slowly warps. There’s grit, there’s reverb, and that unmistakable Finnish flow in every chord — no surprise, since the members cut their teeth in a handful of short-lived hardcore and punk outfits like Rue Mørgue before summoning this spectral new sound. Perfect soundtrack for when love turns rotten and the nights start stretching longer.

Joint release between Half Bear Half Cat in Helsinki and Brainwasher Records in Hamburg.