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In Love With a Ghost

In celebration of Pride Month, the albums featured during the month of June will feature LGBTQ+ artists. Please support LGBTQ+ creators.

Lo-fi beat tapes have kinda become a big thing these days. Many people listen to it while studying and I hear it on twitch streams all the time. It certainly does a great job of setting the mood and filling the background, but for the most part, music in this genre can be boiled down to a slowed down sample and a drunkenly assembled beat. It isn't the most compelling formula. French musician In Love With a Ghost breaks that mold with beautiful compositions and excellent sound choice. You can tell that a lot of care and effort was put into their music as every sound and performance feels purposeful. The piano and guitar playing is vibrant, and there are so many lovely synth flourishes throughout. The only thing wrong with this thing is that I just wish it was longer. Many songs here fade out before you've had the chance to truly appreciate the artistry.

Happy When You're Not Here is an acoustic guitar lead little piece. After it runs through the initial phrase, a second acoustic guitar comes in playing these beautiful harmonics over top. When the percussion and bass comes in, it is very understated but has enough groove to give the track a little more flavour. The final track is also a favourite of mine with this cycling synth melody. At different moments, there are these subtle piano flourishes that are really tasteful. In the middle, all the synths drop out and a single piano takes over playing the synth part. The performance is very expressive; using a lot of dynamic control and sustain to create music that has a pulse. It's just absolutely beautiful.