Thanks to Ghost Town Jenny’s vocalist, Kim Kylland, we were able to catch the details behind their upcoming EP (to be released 1/28). The band has a unique sound that allows for awesome storytelling. You can listen to the EP and find out the details of each song below, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of the EP when it releases on 1/28.
SUWANNEE – The song ‘Suwanee’ came about when we were on a three-month tour of the US in 2010. We were driving between gigs and going a bit stir crazy in our rented RV when we drove over the Suwannee river. It was so beautiful and peaceful, and we all became kind of quiet looking out the windows at it. I was really hung-over, and therefor very emotional, and the melody (in the chorus) just came pouring out of my mouth. I kept singing it all day, eventually picking up a guitar later that night and putting it to music. This song (lyrically) deals with two themes that have plagued me my whole life: homesickness and wanderlust. I have travelled a lot in the past 10 years, and while I love it and desire to keep seeing more of the world, to keep touring and playing our songs, part of me also longs to find a place that feels like home to me…a place where I can put down roots. So far southern Ireland and Reykjavik, Iceland have given me that feeling, but it’s hard to tell if it’s just a feeling…I think I need to spend more time in both of those places before I can say for sure. In the meantime I am rootless.
LIGHTS – There is a scene in ‘The Great Gatsby’ in which the narrator moves through one of Gatsby’s lavish parties, eventually stumbling upon a famous singer of the day who is leaning against a piano singing her heart out while she sobs uncontrollably. Her makeup pours down her cheeks while she belts out her song, and a gentleman nearby suggests that she try singing the notes on her face. The suggestion sends her into hysterics. That scene has always stuck with me, and I created the character in “Lights’ based upon this girl. She is someone who was famous in her day, sought after and given everything. She lived under bright lights, surrounded by adoring fans and hype. Overtime though, she finds herself and her music falling out of style as she grows older. She finds herself losing some type of magic that she does not know how to get back…a magic that she never could quite grasp in the first place. The song is really sung from her perspective. I am really bummed that we did not record this song before the new “Great Gatsby” movie came out last year. I would have loved to somehow approach Jay Z about including our song in the film’s awesome soundtrack. I think it would have fit really well.
GOLDEN HOUR – This song is about a few things. It’s written with a certain time of day in mind, the hour just before dusk, when the sun is low and the light is very strong and paints everything gold. It’s a time I have always loved. It feels so dreamy and heavily tinged with a sadness that you cannot quite describe. This song also reminisces about growing apart from someone you are in a romantic relationship with, and places the sadness of a breakup side by side with the immense feelings of release and rediscovery of self that follow such a split. This song also has a heavy dose of nostalgia in the bridge, where I sing about sneaking out of my best friend Aimee’s house at night when we were 15, running through sprinklers on summer nights and feeling very free.
SEE YOU IN ETERNITY – I wrote this song for my father after he passed away last summer. Hours before his funeral, I was making sure that I had all the things I wanted to bring with me to the church. I put my guitar in its case, and I began putting little things on top of the case. When my husband walked into the room, he asked me if I was building a boat. My guitar case, holding all the small things I wanted to bring with me to say my final goodbyes to my father, really did resemble a boat, or some kind of an altar. Later that night, I took out my journal and wrote down the lines, “I built a boat to come see you…I’ve missed you every day you’ve been gone…”
