Ghost vs Sanne 'Hold This Girl' album

The new album by Ghost vs Sanne is an attempt to explore the many facets of the human experience. This is an amalgam of Electronic Pop and Soul that will simultaneously take you to the dance floor and into the various layers of the soul. Just as you think you've put Ghost vs Sanne in one box, the band dismantles those conclusions and is onto the next narrative.

The highly anticipated full-length CD from international record artists, Ghost Vs Sanne, is in stores now. The album has already proven its strength on the music scene. "Nobody's Perfect" has been the highest rated and most viewed video on Vibe Magazine’s video site. This musical collection is a brilliant showcase of Sanne’s beautifully rich voice. Along with Sanne Karlsson, the Ghost team is comprised of songwriter/producers, Ulf Lindstrom and Johan Ekhe whose previous successes have included writing on the first three Robyn albums. In 2006, the Ghost team won a Swedish Grammy for Best Pop Song.

With the release of Hold This Girl, the band wants to simply “focus on unique and meaningful songs that enhance the soulful and powerful voice of Sanne.” The trio has drawn on some interesting sources and inspirations for their album. When discussing, for instance, "A Little Love," Johan states its genesis came about after watching a documentary about prisoners being forced to build their own prisons. "The title kind of speaks for itself. It's urging people to speak up and not be passive or we won't be able to change things for the better.”

The tone of the album swings between multifaceted stories of modern inner city life and the human condition with the writers intent on producing a “movie soundtrack” quality to the overall feel of the sound. Ulf stated that the thematic texture of the album came about because “we wanted to create that feeling you have when watching a movie..... a soundtrack for your iPod."

As such, the album reflects an interesting journey where Sanne, Ulf and Johan explore politics, popular culture sadness and joy, and guide the listener through a kaleidoscope of song styles and genres.

press quotes
“Ghost vs Sanne draw from a sophisticated adult-contemporary and blue-eyed soul modus operandi - think Dusty Springfield, Lulu, Cilla Black, and a fairly sober Amy Winehouse.” -Amplifier Magazine

"Music doesn't get too much better than this!" -Aaron Moss, Fabtastic Music

"This is the CD that Amy Winehouse would, if she had the guts and tenacity, record. The album is very very very good. Too strong for its own good." -Bobby Hanlon, Dontstopthepop

Affinity Artists: Lady Gaga, Robyn, Neo, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Massive Attack, Scissor Sisters, The Smiths, Empire and the Sun, The Killers

biography
In his thought-provoking novel "Epepe" the Hungarian writer Ferenc Karinthy tells a story about a linguist who finds himself stranded in an, to him unknown Metropolis. A place where he doesn't understand a single word. The result is a great but nightmarish and at parts quite Kafkaesque story about alienation and frustration.

So what's the connection between this glimpse from the world of "books-you-really-ought-to-read" and the first recorded music from a Swedish Electro Pop combo working under the moniker Ghost vs. Sanne? The connection is very obvious if you ask Ghost (i e Ulf Lindstrom and Johan Ekhé: producers/songwriters/musicians) and Sanne Karlsson (vocalist/songwriter) The music that really affects you is often based on a lot more than just some good licks and a nice hooky chorus. It's so easy to tell yourself as an artist that it's too high-flown to mention a book like "Epepe" in conjunction with Pop music. ”But to hell with unwritten rules like that! If we're obviously influenced and provoked by some other art - heavy or featherweight - we'll admit it to ourselves and to others". Says Sanne of the Stockholm based threesome. They decided early on to go for intuition instead of frames decided by yourself and/or your environment. Musically and socially. Lindstrom continues: "It's in the end about looking for something better instead of adapting. About finding your way back to the passion you feel when you truly believe in something. If you don't... I think you run the risk taking the spice out of your personality and in the end that's just gonna make you lonely.

The musical result of this little private revolution redefines the fusion between Soul and Electronic Pop. At times it's possible to trace parts of what Ghost once contributed to three multi-platinum albums by fellow Swede Robyn. But then arrives soundscapes never before heard in a Swedish recording studio. Add to that 22 year old prodigy Sanne's otherworldly voice and out comes a kind of Soul Electronica that is immensly soulful yet provoking and edgy.

The dramatic debut single "Hold This Girl" is one key moment on the forthcoming album. Another is the very unlikely – but extremely suiting – remake/remodelling of the Queens of the Stone Age 2002 song "No One Knows". A cover picked for, among aspects, the lines: "We get some rules to follow/That and this/These and those/No one knows."

Johan Ekhé reflects on the rules of life and art: "The album is about finding your own truth, to escape the things that suck the energy out of you and not letting experience weigh you down. He pauses and makes a grin: "I know it might sound pretentious, but you know...I don't really care, cause I can't put it in a ligther way without losing the message...”

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Ghost vs Sanne - Hold This Girl