My Neon by Ghostwoods
Led by musician/composer James Lees, the languorous, atmospheric music of Ghostwoods has been gradually blinking into existence since the lockdown winter of 2020. Isolated and with time to kill at his home in Mt Nebo/Jinibara Country, James turned to composing and tinkering on the piano with the sparse and spooky fragments that would become the first collection of Ghostwoods compositions.
'My Neon' was created with much less planning than typically goes into a James Lees project. Particularly in the studio, Lees is usually meticulously prepared when approaching a session but challenged himself to be more free and leaving space to be playful and experiment.
As with many instrumental pieces, the narrative/theme/meaning is left to the listener to manifest. There are shared intrinsic links between the album’s six tracks, some even unwittingly inhabiting similar musical motifs in their early stages. After being carefully shaped and chiseled in the studio, those shared compositional affinities linger in the tracks and connect them as a whole even with each tune having a distinct stylistic identity.
“The more I work on Ghostwoods music, the more I understand what it is actually about," says Lees. “Having always been used to working with singer/songwriters, I am very concept-based and the instrumental setting of Ghostwoods subverted and challenged that for me. As we do more recording, and more live shows, the music and the project itself is teaching me what it is about. It’s such a fascinating and satisfying process.”
Tracklist
| 1. | Dreamless | 8:17 |
| 2. | Terminal Bliss | 6:18 |
| 3. | Saturnine | 3:46 |
| 4. | Liminal | 7:21 |
| 5. | Brighter Now | 9:29 |
| 6. | Terminus | 3:16 |
| 7. | Terminal Bliss (Single Edit) | 4:31 |
| 8. | Brighter Now (Single Edit) | 4:19 |
Videos
Credits
James Lees - piano, synths, drums, percussion
Mark Angel - electric guitar
Karl O’Shea - bass, acoustic guitar
Andrew Saragossi - saxophone, clarinet, flute
Rohan Seekers - keys, synths
Performed and Recorded at Wild Mountain Sound, Mt Nebo/Jinibara Country
Produced by James Lees & Jamie Trevaskis
Engineered and Mixed by Jamie Trevaskis
Mastered by Lawrence English
Artwork Design by Brett Harris
We respectfully acknowledge the Jinibara people, the First Nation Traditional Owners of the land on which this music was composed, performed and created.
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Led by musician and composer James Lees, the dreamlike, atmospheric music of Ghostwoods gradually blinked into existence over the lockdown winter of 2020.
The cold and gloomy environs of Lees' mountain abode make for a dark, atmospheric winter. The simultaneous qualities of the natural beauty and a sinister sense of underlying hostility very much influenced the music that was created.