Songs I Heard This Week (Haunted)
With the release of the new Depeche Mode single, Ghosts Again (from their upcoming album “Memento Mori”), I thought I would share some other songs I enjoy with an otherworldly theme…
Sometimes you hear a song that just grabs you on the first listen. That is how I felt when I hit ‘play’ on this fantastic track! After losing band member Andy Fletcher last year, it is a pleasure to see DM is moving forward and still able to make great music. I hope it’s an indication of what to expect from the album as I haven’t gotten heavily into one of theirs since “Sounds of the Universe” in 2009. This song conjures so many thoughts. Martin’s harmonies have a haunted quality to them. “Wasted feelings. Broken meanings. Time is fleeting. See what it brings”
This track comes from the Pet Shop Boys album, Elysium, which has some real winners (including the song Winner), but the production on Invisible is quite impressive. It gives you a sense of how it would feel to be ‘invisible’ as it has a ghostly quality. Sometimes we feel that way in relationships and sometimes in the society we keep. Where once we were prominent and valued, we suddenly feel irrelevant and unseen. “Can you hear me? Can you see me? Am I really even here?”
If you’re not familiar with The Midnight yet (c’mon get with the program) you will immediately notice the influence of 80s synth. This comes from the EP Horror Show which is inspired by 80s horror soundtracks. A truly excellent listen, if not too short. And this addition is incredibly cool. Brings to mind something like Knight Rider or Stephen King’s Christine. But it is also a reminder of the power of radio, specifically when listening in the car. Nothing like cruising to soul-grabbing music. It has the power to capture a moment, an era, an emotion. This allows the singer to sneak in and wield enormous influence over the listener.
Speaking of synth, how cool is this song by The Police from their album, “Ghost in the Machine”? As much as I love some of Sting’s solo work, The Police has a very unique sound that I wish would have carried on a while longer. This track has an eerie vocal melody while the music by contrast is quite upbeat. It makes me strangely happy, especially the instrumental at 1:42.
The Bee Gees actually have quite a few supernatural-inspired songs, so it was hard to choose. I believe Barry in particular has a fascination with this topic which is evident on tracks like Haunted House, Giving up the Ghost, and Ghost Train. But also exploring the ability to read minds in tracks like ESP, With My Eyes Closed, and this selection, Spirits Having Flown. I’ve always found something comforting about this idea of living “in the air” on a different plane. It’s like a secret hiding place where nothing can harm you or interfere — “I’d like to take you where my spirit flies, to the empty skies we go alone.” Music can take you there and it can even be a shared experience. But I think the fact that there is a desire to experience this type of deep connection, to even revel in finishing each other’s sentences, could be telling of how we will communicate in the afterlife.
Sweet and magical, this is one of my sad ‘happy songs’. That might sound like an oxymoron but sometimes songs can be about sad things but also hopeful. The rush of time or even circumstances cannot erase someone who has a piece of your soul. Wherever you go, so they are also, in spirit. “And love is only heaven away.”
This is just about the only song by Madonna I’ve really loved since the early 2000s. It was pretty much downhill after her album “Ray of Light” but then this gem popped out of nowhere. The obvious use of auto-tuning notwithstanding, it has an emotional quality that’s been missing from her work for the last two decades. That quality is what made her stand out as a pop singer, even when her crazy antics seemed shallow and attention-seeking. But there is something quite spiritual in the idea conveyed here of holding tight to those you can trust to help keep your sanity while the world burns down around us. “Tell me how we got this far, every man for himself. Everything’s gone to hell. We gotta stay strong, we’re gonna hold on. This world has turned to dust, all we’ve got left is love. Might as well start with us. Singing a new song, something to build on.”
