If reading the phrase “industrial holiday ballad” skeeved you out any, I assure you that you aren’t the only one with a raised eyebrow. While Aesthetic Perfection mastermind Daniel Graves is no stranger to ballads – the tear-jerking closer to Blood Never Spills Far From the Wound that was “Devotion” comes to mind – a holiday-flavored tune seems especially out of pocket. Leave it to the Austrian implant to shake things up once again, as he wraps up his 2021 twelve songs in as many months project with “Lonesome Ghosts.”
As Graves himself writes:
“Lyrically, it tells the story of our longing for connection, our desire not to be alone, and offers hope that there is truly a chance at redemption – we’re not all doomed to spend our lives haunted by ghosts of the past.”
Teaming with Lord of the Lost’s Chris Harms, who also mixed the track, and German composer Corvin Bahn (Crystal Breed, Perpetual), Graves brings us a lamenting number about the longing, the Sehnsucht if you will that comes with this time of year, and with the ever-present beast that is the ongoing pandemic breathing down our necks, this loneliness can feel all too magnified.
Things start off soft, with a piano and Daniel’s voice, but by the time we hit the end, we have a guitar solo, a full orchestra, and sleigh bells ringing in what some call the most wonderful time of the year. Is it a quintessential AP track? Depends. Should it be someone’s first exposure to the king of independent industrial pop? Perhaps not. Is it a testament to the breadth of genres or subgenres that Daniel Graves can explore not only competently, but to a fair amount of success? Absolutely.
Check out the video for “Lonesome Ghosts” below, and stream/purchase the single on Bandcamp: