French based Avant-Prog/Post-Jazz esemble Ghost Rhythms has unveiled first single “Quinta del Sordo” taken from upcoming album, “Missing Times,” set for release on October 30, 2026 via Cuneiform Records.
Watch the official visualizer for “Quinta del Sordo” via the YouTube player below:
Ghost Rhythms are a truly exciting, Electric-Eclectic Jazz / Post-genre ensemble based in France. Active in Paris since 2005, the nine-piece ensemble has won numerous awards and released 9 albums. Their music is cool, intelligent (conceptual themes underlay each album), and self-assured, featuring morphing drum grooves, catchy bass lines, expressive harmony changes, world music touches and a never-ending succession of dizzying, odd-time polyrhythms. The highly skilled instrumental ensemble uses a world of instrumentation and influences — Jazz, Classical, Rock, World — to create captivating tunes that defy genre boundaries and soar beyond tradition.
“Missing Times,” Ghost Rhythms’ new release and third album for Cuneiform Records, conceptually probes notions of UFOs — specifically, the phenomenon in which UFO abductees lose memory of their experiences aboard ships from outer space. It’s a slippery slope full of mythology, as drummer/guitarist Xavier Gelard points out, but not one without merit and depth. And beyond the sci-fi elements of that subject matter, there are universal themes. “We’re trying to decolonize the UFO lore from the UFO,” he explains, “in order to access the human part.”
The Ghost Rhythms ensemble is based around the creative duo of Xavier Gelard and pianist Camille Petit. Together, they’ve deeply explored the interplay between interlocking rhythms and musical feel throughout the group’s 20-year run. The themes relayed in “Missing Times” — absence, perception, and time itself — have been guiding principles.
In that way, then, “Missing Times,” their ninth full-length release, is their ultimate statement, as its displaced rhythmic structures weave amongst each other in the foreground. The album — most of which was recorded live in the studio — started with the title and concept, and the music fell into place.
Ghost Rhythms seamlessly create sonic quilts of interweaving riffage and soaring melodies. Their sound straddles genres, wearing inspiration from modern avant-leaning influences like The Claudia Quintet or Bad Plus — both ensembles that feature Jazz-associated musicians reaching toward Rock, Pop, and Classical influences — as easily as it does vintage Progressive Rock groups like National Health, particularly in their propensity toward rhythmic experimentation and flexibility, as well as genre-defying Chamber Rock/ avant progessive ensembles like Lars Hollmer / Von Zamla, Art Zoyd and Miriodor.
Pre-Order “Missing Times” on Bandcamp: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/missing-times
Tracklist:
01. uinta del Sordo
02. Qi Lin
03. Aux grands absents
04. The Healing
05. Agatha
06. Wrong
07. Vie de Betty et Barney Hill
08. Abat-nuit
09. Où étiez-vous?
10. À venir
11. Chouette
12. Missing Times
Lineup:
Guillaume Aventurin / Guitar
Julien Bigorgne / Flute
Alexis Collin / Accordion
Nadia Mejri-Chapelle / Cello
Xavier Gélard / Drums, Additional Electric Guitars, Additional Percussion, Vocal
Grégory Kosovski / Bass
Morgan Lowenstein / Congas
Camille Petit / Piano, Rhodes
Maxime Thiébaut / Alto and Ténor Saxophones, Clave, Flute
With:
Bertrand Aimar / Violins (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 12)
Maxime Berton / Soprano Saxophone (Tracks 1, 6)
Frédéric Garcia / Choir Director (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11)
Clarisse Kosovski / choir (Track 11)
Sonia Bricout / Vocals (Tracks 3, 11)