Handsome Ghost Revisits the Past with “Massachusetts”

It’s not uncommon for artists to change their musical style, reinvent themselves, and keep doing so more as time goes on. However, with ever-increasing changes, a corresponding amount of distance from one’s original sound can make what an artist does at the beginning of their career versus where they are years later, start to feel un-relatable – and not just to listeners but to artists as well. In some cases, the best way to mend this disconnect is revisit methods, ideas, and even places from the past.

This is precisely what Handsome Ghost has decided to do with the song “Massachusetts,” which is premiering today on American Songwriter through a new music video. The first track off corresponding LP, Some Still Morning (due May 15 via Photo Finish Records), “Massachusetts” is an abstract to a broader message, one that’s focused on Handsome Ghost exhuming musical attributes from its early days but not doing so for purely business-minded reasons.

I’ll go back to Massachusetts

Find myself a house with a backyard

I wonder how you’re doing

Reading back a note I stumbled on

You signed your name in lower case

Like you have since eighteen

And you wrote you and I will never change

Then we changed completely

“I typically write songs in batches at a time,” says songwriter, Tim Noyes. “So, if I’m writing, I’m probably working on six or seven songs at once. Or I’m not writing at all. There’s not much of a middle ground in the way things come to me,” he says.

Noyes’s sentiment might makes it seem like he’s contradicting his own genuine intentions for “Massachusetts.” Yet, in turning to childhood places, emotions, and memories for inspiration, while instrumentalist / producer Eddie Byun depicts those things through softened dynamics; refined, finger-style guitar; clean, twinkling piano; and production that lets everything fade gracefully, Handsome Ghost manages to revive its beloved folk aesthetic with appreciable sincerity. The band’s artistic earnestness is reinforced even more by the beautifully choreographed dance shown in the video. A clear display of old feelings and memories, nuance in the lighting and camera perspective steer the video’s visual sequence and the individuals portraying it, toward what looks like serious existential reflection more than simple nostalgia – not unlike the inner repose Noyes reached before writing the song.

“I wrote about leaving the city, going back home and starting over and the sadness that can come when a relationship ends,” says Noyes. “But I also wanted to try and convey my sense of peace in the place I am now, and even optimism too. It hurts when things end, but I was lucky enough to have the experience at all. That’s a good thing, it’s worth documenting. I’m glad it happened the way it did, for better or for worse,” he says.

Ultimately, “Massachusetts” is a welcome start to Handsome Ghost’s imminent recollective journey.

06.12.20 – London, UK – Colours
06.16.20 – Paris, FR – 1999
06.17.20 – Offenbach, DE – Hafen2
06.18.20 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub