Editor’s Note: The sound of Ghost Box Orchestra has always been one of a calling. So it makes sense that, in the beloved Boston psych-rock band’s grand finale Saturday night (July 21), devotees went off the grid and radar, into dark alleys and around corners and corridors, up and down stairwells adored with friends and family, to celebrate one last time as the quintet dissolved into smoke. Ghost Box Orchestra formed nearly a decade ago, and after two remarkable albums and a handful of EPs, singles, and tapes, have decided to dissipate into the night — but not before one last show in appropriately sweltering confines. Packed into a small corner room, Ghost Box Orchestra performed two echoing, thunderous sets, raising their tribal rhythms to hang tightly into the dense, humid air, rows of familiar faces swaying back and forth and nodding to the blue/red heavens as heavy psychedelia wove in shape-shifting patterns suspended above. As the members of Ghost Box Orchestra individually move on to other places and spaces, the five assembled for a concluding chapter of levitation and sonic desire, and this funeral farewell only served to cement their legacy. They were saying goodbye to us, but we were all saying goodbye to them, as well. Ben Stas was in the middle of it all, as he usually is, and captured a full gallery of the festivities for Vanyaland. Scan through his images below. — Michael Marotta
