Chris and I were recording music last Friday for the new album and attempted to chase down some ghosts. That is to say when I hear music in my head, it doesn’t always sound like the music that is coming out of my guitar. I will fiddle with the instrument attempting to figure out the elusive notes.
I always thought I was strange when I heard music that isn’t actually there. But it turns out Chris hears the ghost sounds too. He said that he’ll spend hours tracking down a ghost sound. Sometimes, he’ll succeed and others — the melody will always be a ghost. When I write music, my experience is the same. I wonder if the great composers are able to chase down the ghost every time.
Ghost music is not a new occurrence in my life. I’ve always had songs in my head. Even sometimes out of my head. I remember being at my friends house and participating in a drum circle. I could swear that I heard flute music playing in the back ground. Only drummers were at this event. No one had snuck a flute into the ceremony. I thought it was merely the ghost music. But afterwards, everyone was thanking the spirits for the accompaniment. I was blown away that other people heard it too.
I’ve always loved science and science fiction. But there has always been the mystical side of me — the musical side of me. I think that’s why I love the stories that Chris and I are writing through the music. It’s a marriage of art and science. With that, I leave you with a music video Chris and I made this weekend. For the science folks out there, yes, I understand that the sun will not naturally go super nova. However, I want to say there is a reason why the sun is going super nova in our album. That reason will be revealed in the third album Anomaly.
Enjoy the video:
Time Burrito 
Not being a musician I’d never heard of the ‘ghost’ music. I find it very interesting. Rather like the rhythm that words sometimes take on when I’ve been working intensely on a poem. I rush to get them down on paper but often they evaporate or change.
I think it probably that the great composers did hear ‘ghosts’. Whether they always tracked them down is another question. Maybe some of their work came out of the effort.
I imagine that the “ghosts” of poetry work the same as music. In fact, I would wager to say all artistic endeavor has a “ghost” an artist chases as they seek an elusive element they know should be there. Turning the realm of thought into a concrete object (music, poetry, painting etc.) is the creative craft.
I believe Michelangelo said there was a shape in the block and he merely helped chisel it out.