KRISTOFFER GILDENLÖW

Let Me Be A Ghost NEW JOKE MUSIC

Music for our dark spaces and hidden identities.

Best known for his 12-year stint as bassist with Pain Of Salvation and, more recently, his work with Kayak, Kristoffer Gildenlöw’s fourth solo album has few obvious hints of either. Here, very personal compositions explore darkness, human frailties, and the ghosts that inhabit our internal and external worlds.

Sparse instrumentation and space characterise much of the album – a mix of acoustic and synth-based sounds create atmosphere and mood, epitomised by tracks like The Wind,

Lean On Me and Look At Me Now. Things do occasionally pick up in tone and feel, with Don’t injecting a brooding blues vibe that detours into Spanish folk music. Even when a full band kicks in, it’s rarely a straightforward journey – Blame It All On Me comes across as Leonard Cohen writing a waltz for Phantom Of The Opera.

There’s little overtly ‘rock’ about

Let Me Be A Ghost – it inhabits spaces between folksy, bluesy ambient; both sombre and unsettling. Nor is it designed to be background music. Instead, this is the perfect soundtrack for late night introspection, hollowing out sonic spaces to accompany our own inner explorations.