Photo courtesy of Old Ghost

Music News

Q.&A.

Ogden, Utah-based musician, poet, and singer/songwriter Nicholas Garn / Old Ghost breaks new ground with first single “Shine on the Way,” written during the winter of 2020 and recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely at his home. “I wanted to fully immerse myself in every aspect of this song,” he said. Throughout the 5:14 track, autobiographical lyrics document an experience of darkness complimented with layered sounds—keys, synth, electric guitar, bass, drum rack— that create shifting moods, from loneliness to self-reflection, and culminating in glimmers of hope.

I’ve seen Old Ghost perform in the Ogden area over the past couple of years, and expand both as a solo artist and with his new music project Orchard Wild alongside Naomi Naomi and Caleb Wendt, so I expected nothing less yet found so much more in this glowing debut.

Much gratitude to Nick for the conversation about his music and this beautiful new tune.

Listen to “Shine on the Way” here, and read more about Old Ghost at oldghoststudios.com.

What inspired “Shine on the Way?”

It's undeniably human to encounter various dark nights of the soul throughout the course of our experience here. This song came as clarification on my own version of the night waxing dark. As so many too often find themselves, in the moment of writing 'Shine on the Way' I felt exceptionally afraid and alone. When I find myself in those spaces I instinctively turn to a guitar and a notepad to try and sort it out. I was finding a lot of depth and texture in certain parallelisms of seemingly discordant things. I felt inspired to describe how that looked to me at the time using esoteric imagery juxtaposed with imagery of a much lighter nature. It felt cyclical. It held a balance, like that between seasons, that helped me to navigate that fear and isolation with grace, gratitude, and self-kindness.

How did you create the sound?

Some of the elements happened by accident. I was trying to overlay a piano part in the middle of the track and ended up with what became the main melody in the outro. Overall, I wanted certain aspects of the sound to seem murky and their counterpoints to feel like they were sort of glistening, attempting to reflect a similar dissonance to what I was finding lyrically. Luckily, layering a crunchy electric guitar underneath a synth can sound a million and one different ways.

How does your solo style change when writing with other people?

It's interesting writing with other people. It really teaches you a lot about empathy. One thing that now feels pretty true is, that has actually allowed me to write a lot more from a voice of spirituality and exploration of my human experience in my solo writing.

How do you describe your music?

I usually really struggle to describe my music. I feel moved by so many different types of sounds and styles. I hear sounds in my head that bounce all over the spectrum. I guess I would describe it as snapshots of moments from my story. Also, Indie-Folk haha!

Is this new single different from what you’ve done in the past?

It's definitely the first serious iteration of me stretching into a world of sound to which I had not previously had access. It's bigger and heavier... and shinier! I wanted this first song out to stand as an expansion marker. A sort of love letter to the turning of a new chapter. "Either way, there's a shine on the way..."

“Shine on the Way” was released widely on most streaming platforms on Friday, October 22.

Follow Old Ghost: oldghoststudios.com, FB, Instagram, YouTube, Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify.