Stray Echo gets wonderfully weird on "Nu Erotic Ghost"

It is, at times, amorphous and ethereal, shifting shapes as near-recognizable elements - a piano run that recalls the majestic build of “Hey Jude”, a snippet of a vocal melody that sounds as though it could’ve been lifted from “Ghetto Supastar” if you strain your ears hard enough - present themselves and then dissolve into the background. And yet, “Nu Erotic Ghost” also feels firmly rooted in the physical realm, tethered here by its organically blooming bass line and the unaffected vocals that chase its groove.

In other words, the music of “Nu Erotic Ghost” mirrors the song’s lyrical subject matter. The blend of the material and the metaphysical makes an ideal backdrop as our narrator describes his desire to take voyeurism to the next level… and the next life.

"Nu Erotic Ghost is a late night ballad written in my dark studio in Brooklyn, New York. All the sessions for this track occurred at night giving it almost an eery, nocturnal soul feel. The song grew from a ballad to a full track, when the bass and drums were added. I had a good time finding the bass line for this track, mostly feeling it out and not sticking to a written part. The lyric 'Nu Erotic Ghost' is mostly describing a feeling and fits the character in the song, especially at the end with the lyric 'I wanna be a fly on your wall, I wanna see it all.' Sometimes, during the late night, basically pitch-black recording sessions, I felt like that character could be peering over my shoulder watching the song take its form. I wanted to bring that character to life in the performance of the track and I think it did."

Monday we were all shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of a true icon. Even now it’s hard to discuss music at all without discussing David Bowie. It’s impossible to imagine a song like “Nu Erotic Ghost” taking shape without him. As the producer himself says:

"Stray Echo was formed with the idea of reinvention and the bulldozing of fear to create what you want, when you want no matter the consequence. This idea was formed almost solely because of Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, David Bowie and his many other shades of creation. 'Nu Erotic Ghost', from day one of writing it, was a nod to Bowie. I felt extremely influenced by his cool, calm vocals in his most powerful ballads like 'Life on Mars', 'Oh! You Pretty Things' and countless others. If it wasn't for him, his style, grace and maybe most importantly the strong importance he put on reinventing himself while always being himself, Stray Echo would most definitely not be. So hats off and a toast to the always inspiring David Bowie."

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