Ghostpoet on his forthcoming album: “For me, it’s a guitar record”

Last week, it was announced that Ghostpoet is gearing up to follow up his 2013 effort ‘Some Say I So I Say Light’ with a brand new album. According to the man himself, his next record is set to be “much more of a natural, acoustic album.”

“For me, it’s a guitar record,” Obaro Ejimiwe told DIY, ahead of the announcement of his forthcoming third full-length, ‘Shedding Skin’. “I wanted to have a guitar-led album and the elements were just drum, bass and guitars. That’s it and for me, it’s definitely much more of a natural, acoustic album. The musical direction was partly influenced just by touring and seeing other bands playing live, and seeing how their music is received by their audiences. Elements like that were definitely in the back of my mind.”

It’s also a record that came together with a little help from his friends. Not only was it recorded with his current touring band, Joe Newman, John Calvert and John Blease, it also boasts appearances from the likes of Nadine Shah, Lucy Rose and Maximo Park’s Paul Smith. “I just decided to work with my mates basically,” he admits, “and it was just a case of having a bit of fun, really.

“It was a case of the demos being developed over time on tour, in soundchecks. Then we spent two weeks fleshing [them] out in Red Bull Studios and then spent a couple of weeks recording it in two small separate studios. I took it all down to the basics because, for me, I wanted to make the record in the right kind of environment. I’ve enjoyed this process, it’s been good!”

‘Shedding Skin’ will be released on 2nd March through Play It Again Sam and you can hear a first taste from it - ‘Off Peak Dreams’ - below. For more on Ghostpoet’s new album, look out for the February 2015 issue of DIY, out this month.