music
Streetside 28 Music Forecast 30 Concerts 31 Nightlife
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Utility Players POWER AND LIGHT REWORKS THE LATEST GHOSTY RECORD — BEFORE IT’S RELEASED.
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ne of the most anticipated local releases of 2012 is the upcoming fulllength from Ghosty, which arrives in mid-April. But those of us who follow the band on social media have been acquainted with some of the material since January, when the Power and Light EP surfaced on Bandcamp. Power and Light is essentially Ghosty gone electronic, with producer Nathan Readey BY setting Ghosty frontmansongwriter Andrew Connor’s D AV I D vocals to cozy downtempo H U D N A L L beats, rather than the thorny indie-pop sound for which his band is known. The collaboration has been years in the making. “Nathan and I have a mutual friend who used to host these little events, where a bunch of people would come over and share creative stuff they’ve been working on — lots of art and photography and things like that — and if I had a new mix or demo or something, I’d play it for the group,” Connor says. At the time, Readey had recently moved back to Kansas City and was playing shows under the pseudo alter ego he called Toby Terrence. “It was this solo R & B electro thing, with backing tracks, a drum machine, synthesizers,” Readey says. “I’d also sing and play guitar solos. It was kind of tongue-incheek, I guess.” Connor was supportive of the project. “This was around the time that Ssion was getting pretty big, and I thought Toby was drawing on a lot of similar ideas — this highenergy aesthetic that was really specific and smart,” he says. “And I noticed the sounds he was getting were basically perfect, very labored over. I was immediately drawn to it.” The two began trading demos and giving each other feedback. Readey eventually retired Toby Terrence (“I just kind of got sick of it,” he says) but continued making songs. His general disinterest in indie rock began to shape their relationship. “I wasn’t much of a rock dude,” Readey says, “which is what was cool about hanging out with Andrew, because it got me thinking about music in a way that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. And I started to realize, ‘Oh, this guy is kind of the real deal.’ And, I mean, obviously there’s a really devoted following for Ghosty. But I wanted to do some genre bending and figure
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the pitch
MARCH 8 -14, 2012
The Ghosty in the machine: Power and Light
out a way to get people who aren’t necessarily into rock to hear his songs.” Connor was all for it. “It’s hard not to like it when someone as talented as Nathan decides to put his stamp on your work,” he says. He supplied Readey with updated demos of songs that would appear on the new Ghosty record. “He’d come over, and I’d play him the demos, and he’d skip over the stuff he didn’t like. And then when something caught his ear, he’d let me know, and I’d just give him the tracks,” Connor says. “I felt like I had input on the process — he ran everything by me — but he did all the work on the production side.” Readey crafted rhythm tracks and synthscapes around the parts of the Ghosty demos he wanted to retain (guitar and vocals, sometimes bass). As he reworked the songs, he gravitated toward an easy-listening ambient vibe. pitch.com
“I’d never really made that kind of music,” Readey says. “But it just seemed like the most complementary sound to the songs I was working with.” In a full-circle way, Readey’s ideas ended up influencing the final versions of some of the new Ghosty songs. “With ‘Need This,’ the drum part was really minimal at first,” Connor says. “Then I heard what Nathan did with it. He changed it to this wilder, kind of psychedelic beat. The drums add this wildcard element to the song. So then Ghosty ended up copying that on the album.” Despite its modest three-song content, the Power and Light EP has been received enthusiastically around town. Filmmaker Pat Vamos is working on a video for “Joy in My Sorrow,” and local label Overland Shark has tentative plans to do a short run of the EP as a cassette. The unusual nature of its release — remixed versions of Ghosty songs you haven’t even heard yet — hasn’t backfired; if anything, it’s stoking anticipation of the new album. pitch.com
“The idea with the EP was just to put it out there and see what people think, and then maybe do a full-length or something,” Readey says. “I’d love to keep working with Andrew on stuff, but he’s got a ton of projects he’s always working on, so I’m definitely interested in working with other people, too. I feel really comfortable working in that kind of producer role.” Readey and Connor share the stage as Power and Light at the Brick later this month on Friday, March 23. “I was just going through a stack of these old cassettes I have with song ideas on them,” Readey says, “trying to figure out how to flesh out our set beyond the three songs we have. I know there’ll be a keyboard and a computer. And I’ll be playing guitar, and Andrew will play guitar and sing, and I’ll probably sing a little, too. It’s kind of a mystery beyond that.” E-mail david.hudnall@pitch.com or call 816-218-6774 M O N T H X X–X X , 2 0 0 X
THE PITCH
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