Prague Sounds
Ten years after Strings of Autumn introduced him to a Czech audience, Ghostpoet returns to Prague Sounds as an established major artist with a singular musical and lyrical vision.
When London-born Ghostpoet's Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam dropped in 2011, it was clear that an exceptional artist was emerging: with its growly spoken-sung delivery and lyrics dealing with the anxieties of the everyday set against a musical backdrop that took in influences from grime to guitar bands, the album (and the artist) defied easy categorisation. Was it trip-hop or songwriting? Band-based or electronic? In the end, it made more sense simply to say: it's Ghostpoet. Following the album's release, Ghostpoet performed in the Czech Republic for the first time at Strings of Autumn's Spotlight club night at Roxy, establishing a fan-base for himself in this country that has been growing ever since.
Ghostpoet is the rare kind of artist with the courage not to follow prevailing trends or conform to preconceived expectations of his work: since that debut album, he has continued to blaze a trail of his own, working increasingly in a live band set-up, notably on his 2015 album Shedding Skin, which was also nominated for the Mercury Prize. On 2017's Dark Days + Canapes, he collaborated with producer Leo Abrahams, known for his work with Regina Spektor and Jon Hopkins, and that album in many ways crystallised Ghostpoet's approach: quirky, atmospheric live band production with electronic elements and lyrics that fused the personal and the political, expressing a claustrophobic sense of bafflement at the state of the world and human relationships. On his most recent, self-produced album, 2020's I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep, Ghostpoet continues to chart his own course, weaving his darkly witty lyrics through eclectic musical landscapes.
'Ghostpoet is one of a kind...producing work that is challenging yet accessible...resulting in a catalogue that stands apart from his peers.' Clash
