Ethereal Massachusetts duo, Handsome Ghost have been growing and evolving ever since their debut single, “Blood Stutter” put them on the map in 2014. From the 2015 EP, Steps and their debut full-length album, Welcome Back in 2018, which perfectly blended acoustic instruments with digital textures, to the album’s acoustic companion, Welcome Back: The Acoustic Recordings, Handsome Ghost have continued to reinvent themselves over the years, and their upcoming sophomore release, Some Still Morning is no exception, but not in the way that one would assume. This time around, the band – comprised of of singer-songwriter Tim Noyes and multi-instrumentalist/producer Eddie Byun – returned to their roots and took a step back to focus on what really matters: creating music that they can be proud of.
With Some Still Morning out on May 15th, Handsome Ghost have already released two songs from the album – the powerful “Massachusetts” and the intimate, personal, “Vampires” – with more to come. We caught up with the duo to discuss the writing process behind the upcoming release and how COVID-19 is affecting the roll-out of the album. Read the full interview now below.
I’d love to start off by talking about your upcoming album, Some Still Morning, out next month! What are you most excited for fans to hear on the album?
Eddie Byun: We’re excited to finally share the record all together! We’ve always placed a lot of importance on the album as a cohesive piece… The songs and the sound of the record, I hope, make the most sense when heard together. We wanted to make a record for quiet mornings. I’m excited for fans to sit down with the whole thing and hopefully disappear into the record a little bit.
As far as individual songs go, the last song on Some Still Morning is called “Sunday Best.” It’s a quiet moment to close the record and it has a bunch of melodies and parts from other songs. It’s a nice moment, albeit a little sad, to close.
How do you feel you’ve grown as musicians in the two years since the release of Welcome Back?
Eddie: For this record, we really embraced intimacy and closeness in a way that required us to be a little bit more confident and comfortable than we have been in the past. Whenever we’re working on songs, I think there’s an urge to make sure every section of a song has a moment to keep the listener listening. We wanted to let the lyrics and melody be the focal point. There’s no immediate “hit” or single on this album. Some Still Morning is all about the songs and the vibe overall.
You kicked off the new year with the release of “Massachusetts” from the album and recently released your new single, “Vampires.” As the first song that fans would hear from the album, what would you like for listeners to take away from “Massachusetts”?
Eddie: “Massachusetts” was the first song we finished for this record after a long struggle and many attempts at working through other songs. It’s a song that I think captures the overall feeling we were going for. It’s nostalgic, but also a little hopeful. Sonically, we always shied away from electric guitars because they can sometimes really take over a song… But we let it rip (in our own, contained way) on “Massachusetts” and it started to become a much more prominent part of the sound than we would have expected.
What inspired “Vampires”?
Tim Noyes: I was in a bit of a rut when I wrote Vampires. After years and years of touring around the country, playing shows, having adventures – the band was at home for the first time in a long time. I found myself with new responsibilities and a whole new routine, in a lot of ways. That wasn’t a bad thing, by any means, but it was less – exciting? I wrote Vampires about holding on to youth and spontaneity. It’s about (temporarily) throwing your responsibilities out the car window and driving through the night, just to feel that wild excitement that I knew before. It feels good to grow up and it feels good to change – but I don’t want to lose all the craziness that brought me to the place I am today.
Did you have any major goals in mind when you first started working on these songs or Some Still Morning as a whole?
Eddie: Initially, my goal was to move the project forward and grow our audience. That led to me being overly concerned with how it was going to be received by fans, critics, etcetera. It was really hard to make music this way. We had worked for about six months on four songs over and over in a bunch of different ways. It got to the point where we were very very close to calling it quits.
Things finally started flowing when we refocused on what brought us to music in the first place. Resetting our goal to making something honest and real that we could be proud of, regardless of the reception, really changed things for us.
What was the most rewarding part of working on the album?
Tim: I guess it was the fact that it was such a struggle at times. The first few months of recording this thing were so challenging – it’s probably the first time we really came to an impasse working together. You don’t expect every song, or every record to go off without any issues, but this second album was at a different level in terms of frustration.
I think it would have been easy during that darkest time to just pack it up and call it a day, or even to just say “these are good enough as they are.” But they weren’t, and I’m really proud of the both of us for continuing to push and to get back in that studio and essentially start again. I think those first few songs, as we finally found our rhythm and our passion again, made for an incredible feeling. And then at the end, as we were listening back to the album for the first time after SO MUCH struggle – it just felt great. It was like “wow, we actually did it.”
COVID-19 has obviously affected the music industry in countless ways over the past month – what is it like working on an album release right now? Have you needed to get creative with the release cycle and promoting the album without the ability to play shows or tour?
Eddie: It’s been tough at times, but also rewarding. Sometimes, it’s hard to focus on anything besides the anxiety I feel for my parents and the people in my life. It feels a little strange to try and get excited about sharing new music. At the same time, reflecting on this record and doing interviews has been a nice distraction. It’s sometimes nice to have those moments focused on something other than the news and the anxiety and fear.
Sometimes it feels so out of touch to be promoting music. On the other hand, I find solace in music, and I hope someone is listening and finding a little escape in the songs we’ve shared.
We’d obviously love to be on the road right now, playing these songs live and hearing them breathe in that context. We’re always brainstorming new ways to share our songs and interact with listeners. We’ll be doing a bunch of livestreams and other more interactive things with our listeners in the upcoming weeks. Some of it will be promotional, but some of it will be just to give a little distraction to anyone who wants it.
Can fans expect to hear any more new music or teasers before the album is out?
Tim: Absolutely not. Just kidding! Absolutely yes! Truthfully, we’re in the process of tying down exact dates for all of this new music leading up to the record release. We’ll have all of that figured out shortly, but the flux in the music industry right now and more importantly the world as a whole has made it difficult to stick to a plan. So we’re adjusting and we’re reacting accordingly. But to answer your question, yes we will definitely have new music to share in advance of the album – no doubt about it.
Do you have any other big plans or goals for the rest of 2020?
Tim: Well…sort of? Honestly I think our thought process has shifted quite a bit with the state of the world right now. If I was answering this question two months ago, I’d have a completely different answer for you. But for now, I think we’re focused on sharing our second record and the sense of contentment that will come with finally putting that little thing out into the world. After that, we’re just going to see where the dust settles and take it from there. I’m hoping we’ll be back on the road when it’s appropriate to do so, playing shows and just kind of getting back to what it is we’ve done for so long. Packing up the van for the first time after all of this is going to feel AMAZING. I can’t wait. I’m sure there will be more songs to write and more music to record too. But for now, we’re just going to try and do our part, stay safe and healthy, and hope we’re all back to some semblance of normal soon.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for having us!
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