motel void

MOTEL VOID: Could you introduce your project in a few sentences? I haven’t found much information about you on the internet to be honest… is this your first music project?

LOVERGHOST: Hey, thanks for talking with me (Danny)! Since we started, I’ve been trying to figure out the language to describe what this project is. Currently, I’d say Loverghost is an ambient art pop band I started with my brother (Christian) back in 2017, but this will be our debut EP release. We grew up playing in rock bands together. I grew up as a pianist, Christian on drums. Towards the end of my high school years and into my early 20’s, I fell in love with synthesizers and sound design, and I started pursuing opportunities to compose for horror films. I tend to bring a lot of experimental inspiration and process to the table, while my brother really shapes things with pop sensibilities and gives the music a punch. The project truly started in 2021. That’s when most of these songs showed up for me, and I started performing them around my hometown.

MOTEL VOID: You’ve just released your new single ‘prayers’. Will it be part of your new album?

LOVERGHOST: Yes! “Prayers” is the title track of the EP and serves as its center point. It feels like a milestone of growth in my writing and helps me feel understood. I’m a child of religious trauma, so I knew I wanted to include a piece about contextualizing my current spiritual standing. I wrote it after going to a number of weddings this year for the first time in my adult life, reflecting on those experiences, past relationships, and my own struggles, and balancing cynicism with romanticism, painting it all in a subtle, eerie frame of ritual and witchcraft. I’ve struggled internally with a lot of things that are normal for others. I used to be scared to sing at all (you wouldn’t even hear happy birthdays), and the dance floor still scares me. My mom once asked, “Would you ever dance if it was your own wedding?” I’ve truly come a long way, being a confident singer now and fronting this band, but I’m extremely sensitive to feeling like an alien.

After writing this song and taking a step back, I felt like it framed the EP as a whole nicely. The intention was to make something extremely vulnerable. I know vulnerability is a strength of mine, and I honestly used to get a kick out of making people uncomfortable when I started performing, but I quickly learned my lesson the hard way: whatever I make someone else feel, I’m making myself feel as well. I didn’t want to feel like an alien anymore. I want everyone to feel safe being themselves and loved for who they are. I think writing this song made me see my songs as prayers, like moments of intention, the attempt to find the purest recipe to sacrifice them or send them into the void, unsure who’s receiving them, if anyone at all, but trusting that you’ll get exactly what you need and that the process is loving and healthy even when it’s uncomfortable.

MOTEL VOID: Could you tell us more about the recording and writing process of your songs?

LOVERGHOST: The writing and recording process of this EP was all about limitation, keeping things minimal, and trying to find what kept me excited and honest. Every song began by exploring ideas using the Teenage Engineering OP1, whether they were recorded and taken to completion on the device or transferred onto a DAW. There are quite a few samples and compositions that come from cassette tape sampling techniques with hardware synthesizers. Some of them developed when I was working on horror films: scraping nails on piano wire, slowing that sound, and reversing it. I’m embarrassed to admit that I started writing and performing this music directly after a difficult breakup, which I’m sure is obvious from the music, but again, it was my first time experiencing that grief and loss as a young adult, which met simultaneously with the deaths of various loved ones in my life. I needed a mode of integration. I was going to therapy, developed a journaling habit, and was showing up to open mics singing whatever I had written the week before with an acoustic guitar I barely knew how to play. I accompanied it with ambient improvisation, guided meditations, and whatever I needed to express at the time. This helped me greatly. I was testing out new sounds, writing styles, and styles of performance and receiving feedback in real time. Occasionally, I’d edit little films together taken on a VHS camcorder and practice composing to them. This is included heavily in the visual style I’ve been expressing with this first EP.

MOTEL VOID: Your biggest inspirations right now?

LOVERGHOST: Hmm. The oldest song on the EP is from early 2018. I think Hainbach had just started posting his first ambient improv sessions on YouTube around that time. Those early videos and albums struck me. I’m largely inspired by the music of Silent Hill 2, and my other inspirations can come from feeling connected to the styles presented in that soundtrack. Alex G was a big one for me in 2019 and 2020. Danny Malone has a beautiful lo-fi album called Speeddreamer that got me interested in recording to tape decks when I was in high school. The name “Loverghost” comes from a lyric in the last song on that record. I feel like some Oneohtrix Point Never made it’s way into “Prayers” and “Ok Fever.” Recently, I’ve been obsessing over Grouper. I caught the wave of her newest album, “Shade.” Discovering her discography and overall artistry has changed my life. Lastly, Copeland is my all-time favorite band.

MOTEL VOID: Your plans for 2024?

LOVERGHOST: We have a lot of songs that are much more produced with live drums and electric guitars—things you’d expect from a band. I think we’re looking to define some new limitations on the production, expanding to a much bigger sound and playing with the contrast of this established tape sound with more high-fidelity production. The process is very important to us. Just as I started, we’re always testing out these songs live. We have some select shows and weekenders planned around the release of this EP, hoping we find more people who connect to what we’re doing. So far, the reception has been incredibly kind.