Handsome Ghost live at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. 3/3/2018. (Photo: Rachel Ann Cauilan | @rachelcansea)
Handsome Ghost is an indie-pop duo doing something different. With the heart of acoustic folk storytelling blended with catchy electronic beats and rhythmic grooves, frontman/primary songwriter Tim Noyes and producer/multi-instrumentalist Eddie Byun have created a heartfelt body of work that is honest, intimate and personal.
“Because the lyrics are so honest … we wanted the production and the instrumentation to contrast that and be dramatic, be a little more full-range, set against really personal songs and also really intimate vocals,” Noyes told Performer Mag.
The band’s debut full-length album Welcome Back was released this January through Photo Finish Records (following their first two EPs 2015’s Steps and 2016’s The Brilliant Glow). The album took the duo the span of one year to create — and that time and patience shows. The album chronicles Noyes experience through one long romantic relationship that both breaks your heart and puts it back together.
The lead single “Reckless Lover” is incredibly raw, refreshing and introspective: “It’s a song that contrasts how much time has passed and how much everything has changed while focusing on one particular night, where it seems like everything is just as it was before,” Noyes told Substream Magazine. “You have to admit that you haven’t let anything go before you can actually try and put it behind you.”
Handsome Ghost live at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. 3/3/2018. (Photo: Rachel Ann Cauilan | @rachelcansea)
Handsome Ghost, who is based in Boston, Massachusetts, produced and recorded their album in their own home studio, giving them the freedom to experiment with their sound and really explore the complexity of their own emotions.
“I found myself sitting down and feeling dread about that same relationship even though it’s been years now,” Noyes said, “and that’s taken on so many forms … It just felt like there was a little more to say there, so I thought that putting this album out would give me a chance to breathe and say, ‘Okay, that’s enough. Move on.”
Handsome Ghost is a band you should look out for. With a rare intimacy and vulnerability to their music — a blend of organic instruments and electronic textures — their songs are lyrically catchy, aurally dreamy and incredibly emotional. It hits home; they create an intimate space of their own; and their live performance is solid with moments of intimate acoustic folk and upbeat electronics.
Handsome Ghost just wrapped up their month-long opening for indie-pop band Flor at Los Angeles’ The Troubadour on Saturday night.
Keep up with Handsome Ghost online at handsomestghost.com or on social media at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
beauty within 