It's time to get studied up.
What do you think it would sound like if a ghost could write music?
Melancholy, maybe, or regretful – after all, some ghost lore states that spirits remain on Earth because they have unfinished business to take care of. Reminiscent of a bygone era, likely, depending when the ghost in question lived (and died). Perhaps nostalgic; mourning the past, or even a future that can no longer be.
Hauntology, a portmanteau of haunt and ontology describes a "nostalgia for lost futures", per Mark Fisher. While the term was originally created in the context of philosophy, it has since been adopted into the music world. While the term is fairly loose, Hauntology is a genre of music that draws from the aesthetics of the past to intentionally invoke nostalgia in the listener.
While Hauntology is not a new genre, it is one perhaps uniquely relevant to today's world. A year into the pandemic, normal life feels incredibly distant – and although vaccine rollouts are providing a light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to, there's still a long way to go before the pandemic will be over. Hauntology music captures the feeling of being somewhere between missing the past, and wanting to move forwards – but wishing the future you were moving forwards into looked a little different.
So, that's what Hauntology music feels like – but what exactly does it sound like? Well, there's not really a strict answer to that question. Hauntology as a music genre typically refers to British electro-pop, with the term first being applied to the record label Ghost Box Records, and the artists signed to it, such as Beautify Junkyard, The Focus Group, and The Advisory Circle.
However, Hauntology can also more broadly refer to music that creates a sense of nostalgia through analog instruments, "retro" aesthetics, inspiration from 70s and 80s music, samples, and melancholy tone. In fact, the term "genre" might not be entirely accurate – Hauntology is a loose style of music which can overlap with various genres.
With all that in mind, allow me to rephrase my earlier question. What do you think it would sound like if a ghost existed in the form of a piece of music? If, rather than a spectre, you were haunted by a sonic remnant of the past, one that doesn't quite have a place in our world today, but is comforting or appealing enough that you kind of wish it did?
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