Ghostpoet: “I wouldn’t want to make a record with singles in mind”
In ‘Off Peak Dreams’, the first song from Obaro Ejimiwe’s (aka Ghostpoet) Mercury Prize nominated album, Shedding Skin, he proclaims “I don’t know about you but I know me…you think I’m getting it confused but I see it clear”. After delving into his history and creative process, the sentiment becomes increasingly difficult to dispute. Across one EP and three albums, this is an artist who has created a distinct sound whilst exploring a vast amount of genres; from experimental trip hop to alternative rock. He is a man who has been unafraid to push himself into uncharted territory and exudes a clear passion for what he does. Boar Music was fortunate enough to catch up with him and explore what this multi-faceted artist is really about.
Boar Music: First of all, congratulations on your Mercury Prize nomination. How does it feel to be nominated for a second time?
Ghostpoet: It’s nice to be acknowledged by something like the Mercury Prize, which I’m a big fan of. I guess I’m quite pleased because it was a record that I really wanted to make. It’s nice to be recognised for doing stuff that you want to do you know?
BM: Something that really stands out for me are your album titles. Can you elaborate a little on where Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam, Some Say I So I Say Light and Shedding Skin came from?
G: I made the first title because it summed up the record once I’d listened to the final piece. I thought melancholy and blues were prominent feelings running through it. And I just, like food [laughs]. I tried to be clever and do something clever with it. With Some Say I So I Say Light I went through a phase of picking things from dreams. Some Say I as in, some people say a particular thing or go a particular way, but I decide to say light and go in a different direction. In a sense it was quite a dark time, so maybe I was subconsciously trying to seek light. Shedding Skin was a more subconscious title, trying to rid myself of particular things. It was a message to myself and others just to move on from whatever it could be.
BM: What has changed for you in how you approach making music since your first EP, The Sound of Strangers?
G: I have access to musicians I guess. Playing live for a good four years, I’ve been able to meet new people and meet a band. I’ve had this particular band now for about two years. I felt like I wanted to make a guitar record this time and I just happened to know quite a few guitarists. I wanted to have the limitations of making a record that predominantly involved guitar, bass, drums and keys, just to see what I could do with that.
BM: What sort of place were you in when you came to write Shedding Skin?
G: I was in London [laughs]. Mentally I guess I was in a happier place. I was gathering ideas whilst touring the last record and it was an accumulation of those ideas; just fresh thoughts, current affairs, life experiences along the way. Those are the things that make up the record.
BM: You mentioned that you’ve been able to get more collaborators as you’ve gone on. What draws you to collaborate and what do you feel it adds to your music?
G: It’s more a vocal thing really. I like contrast and I wrote songs with particular voices in mind because I wouldn’t call myself the best singer in the world. I wanted to have people involved in the choruses, so I went out of my way to make songs with particular voices in mind. It gives an additional flavour to the record, and I don’t know if I’d do as much collaboration again, but for this record it felt right.
BM: I can definitely see that and the two-standout songs from the album for me were the ones with Nadine Shah, because your voice worked really well with hers in its sense of contrast.
G: Well, thank you. I really like her voice and I think she’s a really talented character. I wanted to put her on more tracks because she was the first voice that I wanted to write for. We did another track that didn’t quite make it and she felt partly like a muse for this record. I was just really enjoying her music, her vibe, and what she was about. She’s quite inspirational really.
BM: Her voice really does sum up the tone of the whole album remarkably well. Your albums incorporate a wide variety of styles and genres. Who would you say your main influences are?
G: For this record I was listening to a lot of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Joy Division, The Cure, TV on the Radio, Massive Attack, The National and Interpol. That was for this record but I wouldn’t say that I have an inspiration or a band or figure that I always go to. This was the first record where I decided to allow outside influences in and to be inspired by records and artists. More than anything I just wanted to be influenced by artists who were very individual in their sound but were able to appeal to a large audience. That was my mission with this record just to reach more people. I wanted to have a record that was a bit more immediate and a bit easier to digest.
BM: With bands like Interpol and The Cure, maybe something that joins them together is that they’ve got such a unique sound and can incorporate that into making a whole, very coherent album, and you’ve really achieved that here.
G: Well, thank you. I think all those people I mentioned are very good at creating an atmosphere that carries over a course of a record. I was intrigued by the atmosphere that they created and I wanted to get that coherent atmosphere in this record.
BM: This leads well into the next question. You said in a 2013 interview that you don’t like singles because they tear an album apart. Obviously the music industry is very driven by singles and what do you think the impact of this is?
G: Well, it’s a business model. In terms of myself, I don’t really think about that. I’m in the discussion in terms of what song should be a single, but I’m never in the making process thinking that I need to make a single that will work for radio. I hope that will happen but it would stifle my creativity to be making music for a particular person or radio station. It’s tricky because, like I said, it’s a business model and I can see the point of it because it helps put a campaign together. I hope that it’ll change in the future, but at the moment it still seems to be the model.
BM: And I guess you could say that at the end of the day it allows a casual music listener to latch onto a band or artist and then develop their interest from there.
G: That is very true, it can definitely be a gateway for people. This is the single and then you see a video performance of the single. All it takes is for someone to hear it on the off chance and realise that’s something they’d be interested in. I just feel from a creative point of view that I wouldn’t want to make a record with singles in mind, you know? I’d rather make a piece of work and then have discussions with the label.
BM: The other thing about singles is that you get to do music videos and I have to say that I love a lot of your videos. My favourite is probably ‘Survive It’ and I was wondering if you could talk a little about the meaning of that video and what inspired it?
G: Well, it was made on no budget. Looking back on it, it was kind of like the monsters were representations of the black dog, the chance of depression or oppression from a particular feeling or situation. It was me walking around in a dressing gown and it was very cold. That’s a song that people seem to like but I never really saw that one as a single. I’m really pleased that people like that video. It’s kind of funny thinking back now but what can you do, it’s part of my history.
BM: As you said, it’s got this darkness, but it’s also got this disorientating humour when the monster suddenly starts grinning and I think that’s what separates it from other videos.
G: I think that was more a happy accident than anything. I don’t feel like it was really planned [laughs] but it kind of ended up like that. Happy accidents are what I live for and it definitely made it something a bit different.
BM: On the subject of happy accidents, do you believe in just playing about and seeing what emerges in the chaos of creativity?
G: Yeah, to a certain extent. As you get older and keep doing this music game you kind of lose that. I have moments where I remember how I used to do it where it was very much throwing anything at it and seeing what comes about. I feel it should be a combination of a bit of madness and unpredictability and having a sense of discipline. It’s finding the balance between the two.
BM: You’ve played a lot of music festivals, from Glastonbury to Latitude and Bestival. What would you say was your favourite festival experience?
G: I dunno, different stages mean different things. The first time I got nominated for the Mercury Prize I played Secret Garden Party the next day and that was amazing, just for the fact that it was the first gig after that. It’s been nice to perform at places where people don’t really know my music but come away from it being blown away. There’s lot of different things but I love playing. I used to hate it but now I want to do more.
BM: How do you try to differentiate your live performances from how it sounds on the album?
G: Well I have a great band. I’ve never said to a band that I want it to be exactly as it is on the record. I said to them, let’s express ourselves and try things, and they may be subtle but it makes it more fun for us on stage, and the audience bounces off that. If they think you’re having a good time on stage then they’ll have a good time. It’s just been a case of being persistent with who I play with, and it’s like a family. Not that the record wasn’t fun, but the reason I’ve always loved playing with a band is because I feel music should be live. If you have a backing track, there’s no air, it’s just a recording.
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