Eric Kinlaw (Vocals/Guitar/Bass/Sound Design) and Marcus Barfield (Production/Sound Design) are forceghost, an electronic psych duo based out of Augusta, GA. Both members sport a long list of previous bands and projects, but are elated to be bringing forceghost into its fullest realization. After their initial formation in 2019, time and circumstance have led to the reshaping of the band into its current form. forceghost is the product of impromptu jam sessions, free form experimentation, and friendship. Many years of musical evolution and collaboration between the duo have culminated into a sound both piercingly focused, and kaleidoscopic in scope and texture. Creamy guitars, soaring synths, sharp drums, and hauntingly beautiful vocals will leave the listener enveloped in a radiant afterglow. All previous recordings have fallen by the wayside. Their debut EP, unknowing the known, is outnow and it is the definitive starting point for forceghost: the band hopes listeners find themselves enriched by its listening.

What They Say: “This was one of the first songs we played live and wrote together. Marcus had this psychedelic sequenced modular jam with the bass-line and chord structure almost complete. We jammed on it extensively and arranged it down to these parts. The vocal melodies came to me almost instantaneously with phrasing that just fit. The lyrics were directly inspired by the vibe of the music; a classic video game soundtrack. I tell a story about being bad at video games which parallels the secondary story lamenting a broken relationship.“

“This is about finding solace in letting go. The desire and need to fix broken things but realizing no one has this control over others. Thinking back in the past about the many times you tried to do this and realizing you have to heal yourself first. It’s a simultaneous lament about accepting loss and creating your own salvation. In the end, you just have to let things go.”

Their Mixtape:

ERIC

Clara Rockmore – The Swan

The first time I heard a theremin was on the Pixies song Velouria. It fascinated me as a kid. When Moog released the Etherwave Theremin in the mid 90s, I had to get one. Then I discovered Clara Rockmore and my mind melted with her virtuosic ability to play this otherworldly instrument so perfectly. I think I got a VHS at the time and couldn’t believe her performances.

Laurie Spiegel – plays Alles synth

Of course Wendy Carlos is a huge inspiration but when a friend DJed a Laurie Spiegel record, I was bewitched. I couldn’t believe it was from the mid 70s. It moved me to discover a larger trove of early female musicians that perfected so many electronic sounds. Anytime I hear Patchwork from The Expanding Universe, it instantaneously calms me.

 

Brian Eno & Robert Fripp – A Radical Representative Of Pinsnip

I have to go for the two for one here. On their own, their outputs are incredible. But the projects they did together stand out to me. The album Evening Star is completely transfixing. Time just stops when I hear these collaborations. They are responsible for so much compositional musical progression as well as technological advancement. I can’t say enough grateful things about them.

The Glove – Punish Me With Kisses

I’ve been a long time Cure fan. But when I discovered the short-lived side project The Glove in the late 80s, I could not stop listening to that album. The right musicians at the right time. Everything about this record is perfect to me. It is exquisite synth pop with its washing sequences, glittering guitars, and pulsing drums and bass.

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Whirlpool

Their recent collaboration is one of my recent favorite albums. I’ve been a long time fan of all of their respective projects but these two forces together create a special melodic collage of pop focused tunes with unexpected twists and turns. This song Whirlpool, in particular, envelops you and inspires me every time I hear it.

MARCUS

Kraftwerk – Athens Complete Concert 16-07-2023

The amazing Kraftwerk, like a joke taken too far for too long, just beautiful. It’s art first, a concept in an artists mind, come to life in musical and visual form, never lessening they still tour and make brilliant robotic music with intense visuals and vision. The best of Kraftwerk on YouTube is most definitely the incredible live concert footage.  After I get comfortable listening to a Kraftwerk jam I get restless again and want to program a drum sequencer. 

Suzanne Ciani – Live in Quadraphonic Sound

Suzanne’s music is an experience, a dream world intersecting the real one, voltage become nature, turning knobs to speak with God. Never tries my patience only rewards it over and over and over. Again the live presentations are best, a master of the longform solo synth concert format.

Weather Report – Mr. Gone

Weather Report is jazz fusion, but just made some of the best records and got some of the wildest synth sounds and wrote some crazy stuff to play on them. Mr Gone is unapologetically electronic and has a space age strangeness I adore. 

Aphex Twin – In A Room7 F760

What to say about Aphex Twin? He is quite simply the finest electronic music creator ever. His own unique voice is distinctive and clear above the din of generic glossy productions that clutter the electronic world. Remarkably his early and late works seems to all be of one piece of cloth, not a horrible patchwork but a flowing tapestry.  A role model.

 Omri Cohen – Self Exile || Cascades | NerdSeq | STO | Cruinn | Sarajewo | Microcell

Omri Cohen is my internet mentor. I sort of stumbled on his demonstrations of VCV Rack software as I was fumbling to learn synthesis. He is a patient teacher and always giving of himself, spending time chatting in discord or under his videos, or even taking the time to email when his explanation may be long or detailed. He himself has recorded a number of albums of modular synth both software and hardware and seems to premiere new material as live performances of his compositions. I think of him as a friend I have yet to meet in person. A generous musician that makes social media live up to its potential to share knowledge and create culture in that wake. Another role model.

unknowing the known is out now. Look HERE for more information on forceghost.