Neu Ghost Loft

: Ghost Loft
Based: Los Angeles, U.S
Listen: ghostloft.com
Similar to: Usher on a $25.60 record contract.

Is this the sound of R&B on a budget? Last year saw the rise of some fairly nauseating, insipid instrumental R&B songs, tagged loosely as “beatstrumentals.” Any aspiring so-and-so with a love of Dr Dre and a copy of Logic Pro could upload a few on a whim. While these are thankfully losing their momentum, the remnants of this movement are gaining substance. When we say substance, we’re talking actual, human vocals, with cheap beats being replaced by some much-needed soul.

Ghost Loft aka. Danny Choi is a bedroom producer by nature, but one quick play of the glossy ‘Blow’ and you’d mistake him for a studio veteran. It’s not until the vocals arrive, all vulnerable and quivering, that you begin to fall for the track. Initially it comes across like a stagnating “beatstrumental,” but with a human element attached, it transforms into a stylish pop song. Choi’s second effort to date - the glistening ‘Slowdowntime’ - is far more sparkly, hand-on-heart songwriting that ‘Blow’’s seductive style might have hinted at. But both tracks show flipsides to an exciting young producer.