Interview: Super Ghost Talk Up Their New EP, ‘Left For Dust’

It’s been a monumental year for fresh-faced duo Super Ghost, bursting onto the scene with an unconventional take on alt-rock that produced two binge-worthy singles, before the unveiling of debut EP Left For Dust in October. We had a chat with he pair to find out more about them.

Congrats on the release of your ‘Left For Dust’, we are loving it! How does it feel having your debut EP out into the world?

Releasing ‘Left For Dust’ has honestly been surreal. It’s just fantastic to finally release this EP after putting so much work into it. We feel that what we did with this record was different and unique and it’s interesting to see how it’s been perceived.

What are your personal favourites off the EP and why?

This is a tricky one as this opinion basically changes daily. Our singles ‘Vertex’ and ‘Waiting List’ are obviously some of our favourites, but we think that ‘Lullaby’ is something special. Lullaby holds a lot of sentimental value to us as it’s our oldest song on the EP, but also the groove is super fun, and the song has a lot of different sections.

Are there any specific themes or messages that you explore throughout ‘Left For Dust’? And is there anything you are wanting people to take away after listening to it?

Our goal when writing these songs was to create music that was interpretable. We believe that when the listener can derive their own value and meaning from the song, it prevents the songs from becoming dated. Conceptually and lyrically, the messages we conveyed were mostly revolved around perception. Being able to perceive oddities and being conscious of situations is a human experience and we wanted to try and capture some of these less-explored emotions in our music.

The Super Ghost sound is pretty eclectic, how would you describe it and was this something you did intentionally or did it come naturally?

The Super Ghost sound was meant to be something a lot simpler and conventional, but we often found ourselves fighting against our instincts when writing. Ultimately, we conceded defeat and decided that if we were going to write in this style, we should at least be conscious on what we’re doing. All the musical elements and themes in our songs were purposefully chosen, but we also wanted to research the effects of combining these techniques. In a nutshell, the process came naturally, but we were aware of what was happening.

You recorded this at Brisbane’s Airlock Studios, was there something in particular that drew you there and what was the experience like?

Airlock Studios was enticing as there was a lot of bands we love, such as the Cairos, that had recorded there. The experience was great, but quite taxing as we were commuting from the Gold Coast to Airlock Studios daily. The best part about working at Airlock Studios was the environment. Being surrounded by bushland and animals was great for our headspace whilst in the studio and really helped us get into the mood.

You’ve almost come out of nowhere, has the Super Ghost project been in the works for very long?

Super Ghost was only really conceptualised in January, that’s when we started writing music. We played our first shows in April before hitting the studio and releasing ‘Vertex’ in August. It’s fair to say we came out of nowhere, because we worked very hard to try and get this project up off the ground. Both of us have been writing music since young ages and together have probably written 150 songs. There is a really natural dynamic that comes with our writing and often we find we have to consciously make an effort not to write because otherwise we lose ideas for songs.

If there was one thing you’d want people to know about the band, what would it be and why?

If there’s one thing you should know about Super Ghost, it’s that we are here to turn heads and stir the pot with our own spin on genres. We aren’t here to fit in with the rules and conventions and we are trying to stay true with our own musical journey.

Do you have anything else planned for the year?

To celebrate the release of ‘Left for Dust’ we are playing two EP launch shows—one in Brisbane at the Greaser, and one at the Gold Coast at Vinnies Dive bar. There might also be a special surprise coming around the time of those shows, but we can’t spoil anything just yet! 2021 has been a fantastic year in launching Super Ghost and we can’t wait to get started on our plans for 2022!