Ghosts are important, the type of ghosts that lurk in the shadows of creativity: The misfits, the b-sides, the outliers. Plenty of bands compile enough of these for a release, see Gomez’s ‘Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline’ or Radiohead’s ‘Airbag/How Am I Driving?’, and that’s exactly what Nick and I did with Ghosts. Five tracks from the In Embers sessions that didn’t fit with the album’s sonic aesthetic but still deserved a voice of their own.
The offering here is more of an Indie Rock feel as we’ve moved away from the heavier material. For me tracks like Iona were influences by REM ‘Monster’, Nada Surf’s ‘Let Go’, Posies ‘Frosting on the Beater’ and Harvey Danger’s ‘Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?’. Laticauda Colubrina melody was heavily influenced by the doors and is even paired with a keyboard line. Aphelion‘s multiple time signature changes make it progressive influenced by the aforementioned Radiohead, albums like ‘Kid A’ and ‘Amnesiac’, especially the delayed vocal sections. Where is the Line? is ostensibly a lullaby but it’s also about being stuck in the same cycle, a purgatory and Sycamore influences lean back a bit further into the late 80s and early 90s.
