Ghösh want you to get up and move your body. The Philadelphia-based trio are a cooperative venture featuring singer and lyricist Symphony Spell; multi-instrumentalist and producer Zachary Fairbrother; and mixmaster, live sound engineer, and co-producer Kevin P. Keenan. Together, they generate a fierce wall of dance floor noise that combines hedonistic and political elements to address the challenges of modern life. Hard rock, rap, techno, reggae, and jungle inform Ghösh’s sound, creating something that sounds both brand new and familiar.
“With electronic music, it’s easy to mash sounds together,” Fairbrother says. “Different styles can sound OK next to one another, as long as you line up the beats. I think there’s a strong connection to how your body wants to react to metal, heavy rap beats, hardcore techno, and jungle. You just want to wiggle and throw your body around to release the energy. It made sense to us.”
The group’s new EP, ALIEN NATION, released by Get Better Records on October 1, kicks off with “I Wanna Rock.” It has the feel of a live performance, with samples of crowd noise, a syncopated backbeat that sounds like heavy breathing, and Spell’s rap exhorting people to party.
“Bang This” follows, with another unrestrained rhythm, dub effects on distorted vocals, and a fiery, tongue-twisting rap from Spell that injects a dose of realism into her exhortations to groove.
“I don’t censor myself, per se, but I overthink my lyrics a lot,” Spell says. “I can’t stand anything that’s too in my face, but at the same time, I like things that are over the top. I wanna write about my experience as a queer, Black human without being preachy, inaccessible, clichéd, or stupid. It’s the influence of gatekeeper music and my own internalized ‘isms.’”
Fairbrother says the music was put together during the pandemic, in the homes of the group’s three members.
“We recorded some vocals in Symphony’s basement and did some mixing at Kevin’s studio and his apartment,” Fairbrother explains. “The songs start with me making a beat with a rough arrangement. Symphony comes in with the lyrics, and we chisel away, refining the arrangement and performance. Kevin runs the vocal sessions; then we add all the sound effects, overdubs, and other instruments to fill it out.”
Live, Ghösh put on a multi-media show featuring horror movie face paint illuminated by black light, complex dance moves, and Fairbrother playing guitar or keyboards.
“I don’t consider myself a musician as much as I consider myself a performer,” Spell says. “Setting up the stage in different ways acts like a portal. We’re not just playing a show; we’re putting on a show. The face paint is always different, and we dress up and use props. It’s a whole thing.”
Despite the sometimes-cynical lyrics, Spell says she does believe in a brighter future.
“I like to think that all the hot, nonbinary ravers are going to casually overthrow the government in the most iconic platform shoes anyone’s ever seen, while the angry ghost of colonized nations will take the power back in a way that’s spooky and totally epic.”
Watch the video for “Bang This” here:
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Photo courtesy of Ghösh and Shang Whaley
