Doors at 7:00pm

Front Room

$15 Advance/$20 Day of Show

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All ages show. Check entry requirements at theslowdown.com/all-ages

About GHOSTWOMAN

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There is no reason for GHOSTWOMAN’s fourth album to exist. Welcome to the Civilized World is

born to a broken world; a corrupt inheritance – Evan Uschenko and Ille van Dessel are under no

illusions about its futility – and yet, this thing is alive. It’s an allergic reaction to the times we are

living in: a welt that screams to be itched, the purging of a modern sickness they could no

longer stomach. Beyond rationality, this record came from a place of gut feeling and a lack of

any other option. Hell may have cracked wide open – but GHOSTWOMAN will not go quietly.

GHOSTWOMAN itself only exists because Uschenko and van Dessel were the ones “stupid

enough to commit to it”. Conceived by Uschenko after cutting his teeth as a touring

multi-instrumentalist, the project was brought to life in an abandoned farmhouse in Diamond

City, Alberta. There, for two months, he would make the self-released, self-titled debut album

which was produced and dubbed directly to custom-made cassette tapes. The music has always

been beautifully inhospitable, earned only by those curious enough to seek it out.

Expanded by friends on the Edmonton circuit, Uschenko took the project over the pond where

he would meet drummer Ille van Dessel. Drawn to her talent and sheer excitement to make

music which had been untouched by ego or cynicism, the two became inseparable. A new life

had begun.

And then there were two. GHOSTWOMAN became a head-on collision between the switchblade

rust of his guitars and her caustic drum beats which march them on toward a shared oblivion.

Welcome to the Civilized World is an album to be a pure distillation of their shared vision. From

its earliest sketch to its final form, the only people to touch it were GHOSTWOMAN themselves.

The meaning of the album is inseparable from its meaninglessness. As Uschenko puts it: “The

album is inspired by the absurdity of human behaviour and the circus that is life: sometimes

feels like being in a room with no floor – that’s where a lot of these songs come from.” After

losing friends to suicide over the past year, the suspension of disbelief required to wade through

the everyday had dissipated. If there is any meaning at all to Welcome to the Civilized World, it is

simply to keep going: there is no other choice.

Croaker

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