Album Review: Mo Lowda & the Humble – Tailing the Ghost 

David M Rangel  /  June 18, 2025  /  Reviews 

Some records just seem to belong to certain seasons. Their sound, for no particular reason, brings forth not only images, but unexplainable, vague feelings of snowy winters, crisp, colorful autumns, and newly emerging springs where everything is just starting to turn green. 

The June 20th release of Mo Lowda & the Humble’s latest studio album, Tailing the Ghost, is an appropriate day to drop this dreamlike, summertime record. While The Beach Boys and other bands of that ilk have put out a catchy, often “syrupy” style of summer “pop” music, Mo Lowda & the Humble lean more toward hazy, fever-like sonic hallucinations that give the listener a sense of being in a remote, tropical setting of unknown location, during the hottest point of a mid-August afternoon. 

Opening track “Fitzroy” starts the album with a cool, laid-back, but still rocking, fairly straightforward piece of 90s-sounding rock ‘n’ roll. It sounds like a familiar friend we’ve seen many times before, but is always welcome and creates a feeling of excitement when you first see them. There is a bit of jangle on the guitar that leads the song, but it gives little indication of the more atmospheric sounds that are to follow on the remainder of the record. 

Next up is “Canary”, one of the singles from the album. With the opening guitar strums, we begin to hear the lush thickness of guitar and vocals that will lead us through the album to chilled-out, exotic locations. It also becomes notable that singer Jordan Caiola’s vocals bear strong similarities to Peter Gabriel and Francis Farewell Starlite of Francis and the Lights. “Canary” sets the tone for the rest of the record. It is a vibrant, seemingly effortless juxtaposition of solid, locked-in presence, with airy, carefree aural paintings that meld perfectly, making the listener the better for it.

In a world where basically everything has been done before, the progressiveness of musical style created by Mo Lowda & the Humble comes off as fresh and new. This is despite the fact that individual music components may already be conquered territory. They draw from a number of artists and styles and make them their own. Artists as diverse as Tame Impala, Crowded House, and Joseph Arthur come to mind. The listener often gets the sense that (aforementioned) singer/guitarist Caiola, bassist Jeff Lucci and drummer Shane Woods (and others who may be involved) are hypnotically thinking with the same mind, feeding off of each other with an instinctual sense of where the others will go within the songs. It is meticulous precision, more often found in jazz music than rock.  The typical formula of verse-chorus-verse is largely absent. The pop “hooks” are within the overall songs as opposed to just a chorus. Lyrics often seem like a matter-of-fact stream of consciousness style effort by a singer who is very absorbed in the music.

This record has several songs that could be construed as singles. “To Keep Sane in the Dark” easily breezes in with a 90s, jangly Britpop-style guitar. The delay in reverb on the guitar and vocals recalls the best parts of that musical era. When Caiola asks, “So / are you taking back my love?”, we are given the harmonious strength of a complete grand tune, all within one line.

A driving drum beat guides passionate vocals to a plateau falsetto on “Postman”. The song features more of a rock-style guitar than many other songs, as it chugs forward with the force of a train on flat terrain. “Northside Violet” brings us close to the end of the record with an eclectic, sort of uncategorized style of rock and pop in the style of many of Pete Yorn’s songs. It’s an unusual mixture of sweet, but sad vocals coupled with a droning, down-beat guitar that all somehow equal out to a song that could possibly be FM radio material.

A particular little odd song of note comes in the middle of the record in the form of “Sara’s Got Big Plans”. The song is arguably the most interesting on the record regarding the lyrics. Interesting little quips are stated throughout the song, such as “But because she’s got a pretty face / they judge her like a comment / of a book that they ain’t even read / but they claim to have loved it”. It’s a tuneful little compact array of observations.

This record will be coming out just in time for summer and is highly recommended play at pools and on beaches. But even without those settings, the record will transport you to a world of your own making in which time may move slower, but with a rich presentation, brought to you by a band of Philadelphia guys who are well-versed in exciting the senses through typical rock instruments and delay pedals. The lushly created atmosphere will be one you will want to revisit, well past Labor Day.

You can listen to the album here.