Welcome to Plum Indie Blog
Hello and welcome to the Plum Indie Blog. I’m a long-time writer, first-time blogger and a regular and passionate listener of indie music, which is basically music that takes a little bit of effort to find. Of course, the music business has changed so much, and lesser-known independent musicians have many ways to share their music…now we just need to discover it. So, this blog is my adventure in discovering original indie tunes and a discussion of plum songs that I particularly enjoy and why I enjoy them. On to the music…
Flying above the Boston Harbor with “Ghost in Daylight” on the headphones
For this post, I chose “Ghost in Daylight” from the album Exit to Intro released in 2009 by the LA band, Atlantic Line. I first discovered “Ghost in Daylight” on Pandora’s “Hipster Halloween Radio“ station, which I may or may not listen to year-round, sandwiched between traditional seasonal hits like “Monster Mash” by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and the Crypt-Kicker 5 and Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters.” It totally hooked me, from the very first bars of the lilty guitar to the simple, light drum arrangement. I was sucked in further when singer Ray Silva starts to sing and the lyrics turn out to be a bit more gritty than the music implies. As a singer, I’m right in there with him, though, at first, I’m not really sure what he’s singing. This never stops me from belting it out. When I was little, I thought the chorus from Steve Miller Band’s “Jet Airliner” was “Big Ol’ Chet left the light on.” It still sounds like that to me today. But I digress.
Though the lyrics to “Ghost in Daylight” have a gritty feel, I don’t get a somber vibe from them…more a searching vibe, which made it the perfect air travel song when I was flying out of Boston’s Logan Airport recently (see my airplane photo above, taken over the Boston Harbor). I eventually looked up the lyrics and one of my favorite lines is “Going to explode the sky and show the sun. It’s going to shine on you,” delivered by Silva’s soaring voice while the song is still building. Just as you think you’ll float away and never touch land again, a payoff comes in the form of a heavy piano line to ground you under a beautifully layered instrumental. Silva then comes back in with “your curious ghost, hear this soul.” At that moment, flying above the earth and looking down from the sky, I was the “curious ghost,” keeping an inquisitive eye on the ground and life below. Very cool.
“Just as you think you’ll float away and never touch land again, a payoff comes in the form of a heavy piano line to ground you under a beautifully layered instrumental.”
“Ghost in Daylight” by Atlantic Line is available on iTunes, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, and other streaming services. I’ve also added “Ghost in Daylight” to my Plum Indie Playlist on SoundCloud. Give this indie music gem a listen.