GHOSTGIRL is nothing if not unique. Traversing the worlds of expression, technology and humanity with a palette of audio and visual creations, the Blue Mountains dwelling musician is overwhelmingly hard to predict.
After hearing her last single A.I (Ambient Intimacy), witnessing the accompanying visual, and learning she had a full album in the works, we reached out to GHOSTGIRL for a chat.
From art to music to philosophy, no realm is out of reach for GHOSTGIRL. We find out where the artist will take her project next.
HAPPY: Hey, how are you going? How’ve you been keeping busy lately?
GHOSTGIRL: Hello, well. always moving between emptiness and zen. So quite balanced really. Like a kwisatz haderach on a rainy day. Making a lot of paper cranes.
HAPPY: We’ve really been digging your latest EP, and you’ve got quite a unique sound going on… are there any other artists you’d cite as big influences for your music?
GHOSTGIRL: Thank you so much, that’s so nice to hear. Well influences are really transient for me in that way. I enjoy the idea or concept of the artist and the artist’s role in society as the bringer… the messenger the giver etc, I think music as a force that we can wield for good and its impact on us over time, and its potential is my most continuous inspiration. More so than any one artist.
Though at the moment I am really going between Ghost In The Shell soundtrack – the old and the new both are pretty delightful to me rn. Oh and John Maus.
HAPPY: You also work in visual and digital art. Do you find that ideas and concepts cross between these separate forms for you?
GHOSTGIRL: Yes definitely they’re one and the same for me, different pieces of the same puzzle… integral to one another. Complete simpatico. My core ideas are always being expressed in both mediums building and translating the same universe… as someone who experiences synaesthesia and chromesthesia I feel it’s intrinsic.
HAPPY: You’ve done a lot of collaboration with a lot of different people throughout your career… how important do you think collaboration is to your work?
GHOSTGIRL: Yes I have, it’s funny that it has worked out this way, I was actually quite hesitant for a while after having a really bad experience with my first major collaborator, it was a huge build up to disappointment.
After returning from my stay in Iceland where I had taken up residence and written what would have been my first EP, the finals were co-produced with a very talented producer in his studio in Sydney, and at the vey end of the project he made advances that were unexpected, uninvited and declined. As a result he became extremely bent on sabotage. Trying to own my work as a substitute for not owning me.
I didn’t actually have access to my own finished songs for 12 months. So that was a huge blow and I became determined to never rely on anyone musically again… there was a lot of disappointment and self-blame around this incident and misplaced guilt which has now dissipated. It was actually brought to my attention recently when talking about
these tracks with a friend, who pointed out that this is another story for the Me Too movement, it’s amazing how much lighter I feel just knowing this is not fixed anymore, its not ok and people are being held accountable. It’s brilliant, so yes me too and not anymore.
But to go back a step yes, I think as an independent and solo artist particularly but also just an artist in general it is always a huge privilege to be able to explore ideas with other artists you respect or love. There is so much to be learned and a great sense of camaraderie to be found. I have collaborated with some really wonderful artists mostly from the EU, I am actually in the midst of collaborating with a great artist from the States at the moment called keeno18 he has super strong vision and integrity, you should
definitely check him out!
HAPPY: I’ve read that you also do a bit of philosophy writing… do these ideas influence your music?
GHOSTGIRL: Yes, these ideas are the basis of all of my music and hopefully make a nice transition into the minds and thoughts of the listener in some way. I could speak about the philosophies at length but for now I’ll just say yes.
HAPPY: How important is the audience’s emotional reaction to you?
GHOSTGIRL: Thats a really interesting question, well I would like them to have one if it is nice. To me, human emotion is a step up from our animal nature and a step down from our mental nature in terms of our behaviours and reactions… but it is a great gateway and communicator… and sometimes a humble teacher. To feel and connect to art in that way is so beautiful. In terms of how important it is to me…
To be honest I believe that the most important thing for the listener to me or my hope is that they will find a hidden gift in it or perhaps an idea, a sense of growing kinship or a notion that could be helpful for them. If they find it though emotion I am so happy.
Is there any way of gauging this? Well…
HAPPY: We hear you’ve got a full-length LP in the works. What can we expect from this?
GHOSTGIRL: Yes! I am so excited to be talking about this, I have been working on it a while now. It is a kind of credo. I have written odes, and anthems for the messages and beliefs I as an artist and a conscious observer here during this wild time, feel compelled to share. Sonically it will be different in the way the songs are structured, hopefully more personable.
I am also letting loose a lot performance wise and vocally there will be a lot of emotional variety you could say ha! Also I am really doubling down on the production side of things.
I would love for whomever it reaches to explore the concept of humanity and what it means to be conscious and the accountability that comes on with it. Where we are heading not external ie technologically but internally as sentient beings. I am hoping for it to be like a velvety sci-fi phantasmagoria of credos for brave and lovely people who would dare to look at themselves.
HAPPY: What else does the future hold for GHOSTGIRL? Any other exciting things coming up?
GHOSTGIRL: I have an unreleased piece of audiovisual work that will becoming out very soon called Voice In The Void. In fact I have quite a few works to drop before the LP so the future is busy, bright, and full of sound. I am also playing some shows in Sydney through the year, first one is on the 8th of July the event is called Soap Opera. Until then..
