Ginger And The Ghost are two visual artist who have transformed their imagination into song.

Driven by the idea of writing and recording in a spontaneous way, they utilised whatever tools at hand to deliver their sounds. From bicycle wheels to body percussion, their music is driven by instinct, intuition, and an innate sense of trust in each other. Combining ethereal vocals that evoke a child-like abandon and the optimism of youth, with dynamic instrumental layering, Ginger And The Ghost have crafted an epic yet grounded sound.

Love and loss, victory and defeat, tension and release.

This is Ginger And The Ghost.

Recently we caught up with the band and asked them a bunch of questions.

Your song Glow is a beautiful, haunting track. Are you exploring our individuality and that, deep down, if we allow ourselves to get in touch with our inner beauty, we can be beautiful spirits making a positive contribution to the world? Or have I misinterpreted the song completely?

I think everyone can interpret a song with their own intention so I love the way that you have described it!

The video for Glow is also a glorious vision. The sparkly energy you transfer between each other is a very powerful, yet sensual and sensitive, image. It would have to rate as one of the best music videos I have seen in a long time. Were you inspired, at all, by the character John Coffey from The Green Mile and the supernatural healing powers he demonstrated?

Thanks so much we appreciate the love.

That’s really funny because I remember that scene!

No… The aesthetic of the film clip was inspired by Daniel Buetti who is an artist photographer and has a beautiful philosophy that goes behind his work.  The story of us transferring energy came from the atmospheric holes he puts into his photos and we developed it from that point.

In your songs and videos for Where Wolf and One Type of Dark, it has been said that “The film clips tell a story of the duo “Ginger And The Ghost” torn from their own world, both alone and lost in a new world inhabited by millions of fallen souls. Have you both experienced a feeling of disconnectedness in our present world, as it seems so many of us do, or are the music and visuals drawn purely from very vivid, colourful, otherworldly imaginations?

We draw from a lot of things …. mythology / anthropology / nature / ceremony / pop culture and especially now we are commenting on the global consciousness in our own way.   We actually feel incredibly connected to the world right now…. it’s all about  “change ” and staying positive ! This can feed momentum ….  I think in our film clips each character isn’t so much torn away from their world, but more so just in their weird and wild world where they are supposed to be ….

I’m not too sure where the millions of fallen souls thing came from but our past film clips have had a story that centres around mysticism and nature … this one still has the elements within it, so it still has a thread.

You started out as visual artists prior to forming a musical duo. How has your visual artistry helped in your creation of such mystical, magical music videos?

We have been doing both for a while now and love being behind the lens writing scripts as much as making music. Having a texture fetish definitely helps in the prop department and no one said “you can’t make a world from paper” for example … so we did and we do !

In March 2013, you enjoyed a very successful North American tour which created a great deal of positive publicity. The tour included Austin, Canadian Music Week, Detroit, Brooklyn, New York, and closed with a sold out San Francisco show. How was that experience for you with such a favourable response?

Yeah that was a really fun trip so many great new friends and we got to make some  film clips along the way with our friend Nick Maher from Unplanned America …. loved playing with Poolside in San Fran! My kinda city!

You captured footage from your North American tour and created three short films: Exiled To Earth, The Race Forever, and The Cave of Time, all based around your song The Red Balloon. What story are you telling with these films and what is the creative link between these films and your song The Red Balloon?

This was definitely an experiment and we wanted to show almost a surreal reality with us in costume in California looking over the city almost like we were leaving nature and landing in a place that we didn’t understand then that carried through to Detroit where it was more like a dystopian // end of the world type scenario where perhaps nature could take back its claim.  Visiting Detroit was interesting because we saw a collapsed city that was rebuilding itself so I guess the social commentary of that was a system that fails.  The connection to Red Balloon was simply that in the red balloon and almost lost in a haze in the middle of the desert and I guess the sound more than anything related to us on our journey across the States and Canada.

We took the titles from choose your own adventure books …. it was a choose your own adventure film clip series really!

Your sound has been described as pop, avant, alternative and catchy. How do you feel about these categorisations?

I’m okay with all of those descriptions – categorising is only human so that’s cool

Similarly to independent artist Tomi Gray, you have utilised all kinds of sound making tools including bicycle wheels to body percussion, bass, beats, and anything else you feel will contribute to the creation of your music. How rewarding and how much fun is your music making process?

Funny thing is we only used a bicycle wheel once in one song, but yes we do use some body percussion sometimes but a lot of the time we find sounds in our environment and layer them with programmed sounds…. once we used an icicle and smashed it against other icicles to get a crisp sound.  Other times we’ll find a mossy log hollow and find different parts of the tree to hit!  It’s not the main focus of our sound but it all contributes to getting a unique warmth to the music.

You recently won first place in the Pop/Top 40 category of the Unsigned Only competition, with judges including the notable Iggy Pop, Cyndi Lauper, Neon Trees, Eve, Brandi Carlile and Of Monsters and Men. Did the award help confirm that you possess unmistakable musical talent? And how rewarding was such an accomplishment?

It was nice to get some recognition of course! We respect those artists, so it was nice to have that from fellow musicians.

Your teaser of the single Mark of Hearts bears witness to the stunning makeup and costumes you use in your videos. What is your artistic process in creating your videos?

Months of being immersed in an idea / mood boards and fleshing things out in our art studio.

You describe your influences as magic, fantasy and play. Your influences appeal to me because it reminds me of childhood, when engaging our imaginations and playfulness were encouraged. However, as we get older we tend to let go of merriment as we are ordered to “act our age”. In your view, how important is pure enjoyment and play for our mental health and our relationships with friends and family? And how do you interpret “acting our age”?

I think about my favourite people and they are wild, eccentric, intelligent and mindful… most of our friends who are artists and makers have an insatiable urge to play.  I think when people keep wanting to learn and experiment with life, they often find imagination is involved.  I don’t really know what acting your age means… I just don’t believe that term really exists, and I also don’t think play = immaturity

You depict Ginger as the darkness and The Ghost the light. Do you tend to conceptualise our beings as a complex interplay between light and dark, good and bad, positive and negative, yin and yang, or do you also conceive of human beings as incorporating a convoluted interaction of 50+ shades of grey?

Hmmmmmm…… we depict each other as both darkness and light….  balanced

We don’t want it all to be too serious …. all in all it’s simply music to make you feel!

AMNPLIFY – DB