AÑO: 5 | NÚMERO 48
THE 13th UN A R E V IS TA IM A GINA RIA
PALM GHOSTS AN ECLECTIC POTPOURRI STRAIGHT FROM NASHVILLE
[ Interview With Joseph Lekkas from Palm Ghosts by BenjamÃn York. Photografs: Kaedi Maney ]
AN ECLECTIC POTPOURRI STRAIGHT FROM NASHVILLE
3 Born from the head of Joseph Lekkas as a way of salvation, Palm Ghosts has just released his new album called "Architecture", where his sound becomes, as Joseph suggests: "An eclectic medley of my musical interests"
I read that music is somewhat of a salvation for you. This project was born in 2013. How did you feel at the moment you decided to create Palm Ghosts and under what circumstances did you make this decision? I had taken a few years off from creating and performing music to work as a festival promoter and talent buyer in Philadelphia. That career took up 60+ hours a week for quite some time and when it came to an abrupt and unfortunate end, I was left with a void in my life that was quickly filled with clinical depression, panic disorder and agoraphobia. After some time in counseling I started to come up with new musical ideas and taught myself how to use pro tools. Playing most of the instruments, I wrote and recorded the first Palm Ghosts record, and that process helped me immensely with my mental issues. Where did the name Palm Ghosts come from for your band name? It came from the idea that darkness can be found in broad daylight. That ghosts can wander amongst the living in the sunlit shores of resort towns as much as they can be found in dark abandoned spaces. I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of duality.
ban neighborhood of Philadelphia for quite a few years. It was very noisy and dirty. There were drunks screaming outside my window at 4 am and junkies nodding off on my front step. We’d find hypodermic needles in the planter box in front of our house. I really love Philadelphia, and much of the city is very different that what it once was, but I had done everything I wanted to creatively and professionally there and craved a very different environment. Nashville is very friendly and clean, a very suburban city, green and pretty. Tons of music everywhere and no snow! So, I really am enjoying it. For those who do not already know your band, what can you say about Palm Ghosts? Palm Ghosts is an eclectic potpourri of my musical interests. I’m an insane music geek and pretty much eat and breathe many styles of music and I think it shows in Palm Ghosts. The first record was indie folk, the second record was influenced by power pop, electronic music and indie rock and Architecture is a fruit of my obsession with 80s alternative music. I think the tie that binds all of the records is introspective lyrics and a cinematic approach to production and songwriting.
You just released your third Palm How was the change from Philadelphia Ghosts record ‘Architecture’. What distinguishes this album from your to Nashville? It was a much needed and welcome chan- first two? ge. I lived in what was once a very gritty ur- I’m a child of the 80’s, I grew up listening
to bands like Duran Duran, New Order, Depeche Mode, The Smiths and The Cure. That kind of music is what I’ve listened to most consistently throughout my life and I wanted to make a record that felt like it was made in that time period, a celebration of those creative and colorful bands. I wanted to study the “architecture” of what made that decade so great and those records so amazing. There is a fair bit of nostalgia there, but I wanted the record to sound modern as well. If I understand correctly, this project is very personal for you. Who is in the band's current lineup and what is that like working together? The band’s current lineup consists of Benjamin Douglas on guitars and keyboards, Jason Springman on guitar and vocals, Erica Whitney Wilkes on co-lead vocals and keyboards and Rene Lambert on drums. I’ve been working with Benjamin since I moved to Nashville, recording his amazing debut record and co-writing songs together. When I decided I wanted to play live music again, he was the
first on board. Rene heard the early recordings through mutual friends and wanted to play drums and suggested her co-worker Erica as a good fit for co-lead vocal duties. Jason had just moved here from Arkansas and answered an ad for guitarist. So far, working together has been great. They are all awesome people and love to play music above all else. That’s all you need! Can you tell us how you create your songs – do you have a set working pattern for this? I used to create songs by writing them on an acoustic guitar and jamming them with a band, but that has changed with the recording of Architecture. I write strictly in the studio now. I’ll start with drums and bass and build first from rhythm. Once I have a rhythm track that I like and the changes sketched out on bass, I add guitars and keyboards and then finally vocals. I’ll send the song to the other members and they will add their parts and ideas and then Erica sings her vocals. I’ll spend the next days or weeks listening, taking things
away, remixing, listening on multiple ste- emotions that I absorb from those records. reos and headphones before the song is The first Palm Ghosts record was basicadone. lly me writing about my mental illness and learning how to record, the second was a You’ve said that ‘Architecture’ is so- collection of songs I wrote and recorded mewhat like a work stemming from an over a two year period that really have no intention. Can you explain a little about relationship with one another other than this concept and in relation to your pre- they were written and recorded by yours vious two albums? truly. I never meant to play them live and I think that Architecture is more of a work honestly, as much as I love many of them, on intention because I set out trying to I just released them together to get them create a cohesive record with song and off of my hard drive and out into the world. production ideas rooted in a specific aes- Architecture began as a group of songs thetic. I wanted it to sound like an early that are meant to be together and played 4ad or factory records release. I wanted for an audience. the record to contain certain feelings and
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Can you give us a track by trackcommentary about your new album?
Love in Winter Love in Winter is a bouncy pop song about the dissolution of a relationship and all of the heartbreak that comes with it. The Hound The hound is a song about depression and how it is so difficult to shake. Cortisol Cortisol is the stress hormone. The song is about my bouts with anxiety and agoraphobia that left me incapacitated.
relationship, partially viewed in retrospect, where you can finally see both the good and bad in the person. Rhythm To Rage Rhythm to Rage is another song about the current state of political affairs both here and abroad. It is about the rise of political protest here in the US and the cultural warfare that is being waged daily. A Lover’s Quarrel This song is just as titled, an argument between two lovers. This one was one of the quickest to write and record, probably took a day or two in total to hash it out. This one is probably the most modern sounding of the songs on the record and has a bit of humor.
The Crown and The Confidant “The crown and the confidant” is a song musing on hopelessness in a world that seems to have gone completely crazy. It seems no matter how one tries to escape, dark elements are at work and have way too much control of Red Horizon our lives. Cries for civility fall on deaf ears and Red Horizon is about a soldier back from a scientific proof is laughed off as fiction. We conflict suffering from PTSD and what might are in the most technologically advanced time go on in his or her head. in our history and some choose to believe the earth is flat and climate change is a lie. Swan Dives Swan Dives is a song about suicide in Who Knew Me Better Than You? response to the end of a relationship. I’ve This song was the first of the bunch to be personally lost people in my life to their own written and set the tone of the record as a hand because they couldn’t see the other side whole. It’s another song about the end of a of heartbreak and it is such a horrible thing.
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What plans do you have for the band for the rest of 2018? We plan on playing as many shows as we can in the states that our schedules permit and would love to travel abroad eventually. So, any promoters out there want to have us, please reach out! We’d love to come play for you! To wrap up, thank you for the opportunity to chat with you today. Is there anything else you would lie to share with our readers? Thank you for listening to our record and we hope to see you in your hometown! Thank youJoseph!
The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA