Following tour dates with label mates 3TEETH and Author & Punisher and shows earlier this year alongside Perturbator, metal synthwave producer Gost just celebrated the release of his latest album, Valediction on October 4th. Arriving just as summer fades into autumn and days begin to get shorter, Valediction finds Gost channeling his fascination with the occult, John Carpenter and 80s slasher flicks for his most ambitious and dynamic work yet. We recently caught up with him to discuss the new album, reflect on 2019 so far and talk about upcoming plans. Listen to Valediction and read the full interview below.
You’ve had a busy year so far with tour dates alongside 3TEETH and Author & Punisher, as well as the release of some new music. What has been the highlight of your year so far?
Our tour with Perturbator earlier this year was a big highlight for me. James(Perturbator) and I have been good friends for a while now so getting to hang out with him and his crew for a month was a blast! Everyone on the 3TEETH / Author & Punisher tour were amazing people as well. I cannot say enough good things about both 3TEETH and A&P.
You just released your new album,Valediction. What are you excited for fans to hear on this release?
Everything! Valediction is by far my most ambitious release to date. I wrote completely for myself on this record, which allowed me to experiment more than I have in the past and I feel writing this way yielded some surprising results.
Was there anything you wanted to accomplish with Valediction that you maybe haven’t had the chance to experiment with in the past? Any major goals for this release?.
I just wanted to push genre boundaries and challenge people’s ideas of what electronic music can be.
For this album, you worked with Jaime Gomez Arellano as well! How do you feel he affected the album? Did you take any important lessons away from these recording sessions?
Jaime helped in giving Valediction an overall new feel compared to previous Gost releases. I wanted to achieve a more dynamic sound and really focus on nailing all of the vocals. With Jaime, he came at the release with completely new and unbiased ideas which really helped to shape the record into something new for Gost.
In anticipation for the album, you also recently released “Ligature Marks.” Can you tell us a little bit about this track in particular?
As with all of the tracks on Valediction I let ideas flow freely while writing. Approaching the tracks this way is probably why there are so many different genres all mashed together in certain tracks. “Ligature Marks” is a track I wrote in one weekend. I had no idea what the end product would be but as I finished the track and began to show people close to me, “Ligature Marks” was a favorite which definitely swayed me in releasing it as a single.
Do you have any other big plans for 2019? Any shows or tour dates coming up?
We are ending the year with a European tour with Mayhem and Gaahls Wyrd
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you! We have a lot planned for 2020 so I hope to see everyone soon out in the world!
STAY CONNECTED WITH GOST: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram