Iggy Pop tells the story of, as a young man, manically shovelling dirt outside of an old warehouse. He would not stop when the Sun was at its peak; he would not stop to take a water break. He had it in his mind that this would be the first rehearsal room for The Stooges, future godfathers of punk-rock. And as he was breaking his back on a dream, he realised he was unstoppable.
There are some people who nothing can stop, not even fate, and someone who every day will go back with a shovel in search of rock n’ roll dreams is one of those people. There’s no way to bring them down, no way to make them do something else, and, ultimately, nobody can make them fail.
The ever at work Love Ghost belongs to the category of rock musicians who are driven with the kind of ambitiousness that would Tony Robinson-like efficiency gurus blush. The “Gas Mask Wedding” album is the latest in a series of releases that have established the Love Ghost brand, letting listeners know that the gritty rap-rock style the artist has established will only be explored further.
Musically, Love Ghost continues to blend the relatively old with the hyper-modern. This is music for the digital age, but much of its grit comes from ’90s styles like grunge, alt-rock, nu-metal.
Opening track, “Car Crash,” allows Love Ghost to move past the bravado of earlier singles, while maintaining the emotional one-two punch of those releases. An emotional, piano-led ballad, “Car Crash,” is the sound of dark romantic dreams in their 2025 form.
And while it is a heartfelt track, it’s all part of the strategy, of Love Ghost’s masterplan. The album, in fact, has the dynamics of a modern playlist, blending styles, genres, and moods seamlessly.
“LEFT ON READ” is an energy-soaked, blink-182-inspired pop-punk song about falling out of love with someone through text messages. And, “Scar Tissue” is nearly a horrorcore, Halloween-ready, nightmarish vision.
But Love Ghost’s not only used his experience to understand what works on a modern audience, but to build relations to help the artist bridge the gap toward various groups of listeners. Zach Goode, now singing with pop-rock hitmakers Smash Mouth, makes a couple of appearances, of which the sun-soaked “Sandcastles” is the strongest and a potential hit single. Meanwhile, fellow mixers of genres, The Skinner Brothers, assist Love Ghost on the well-designed, nicely produced “Scrapbook.”
Where does it all leave us? There’s no way to stop Love Ghost. The artist consistently releases music, and each new record or single moves their reputation a little further up the chessboard. Through it all, the artist’s consistency is matched by the desire to make older styles cool to younger generations. How can you stop that?
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