Boston-based electronic pop act Handsome Ghost emerged in 2014 as the project of singer/songwriter Tim Noyes. We had the chance chat with the duo, Tim and Eddie, ahead of their show in Seattle on Wednesday, June 6th. Tickets are available here. 

Seattleite: How did Handsome Ghost come to be? 

Handsome Ghost: Handsome Ghost started by accident a few years ago. An old band of mine had just called it quits and I started writing some songs with a little shift in production and tone. I was excited to be working on something different but I never had any intention of releasing anything. Then I sent a demo of “Blood Stutter” to a friend of mine in the music industry and he pushed me to put a band together and really take Handsome Ghost seriously. Everything kind of developed naturally from there.

S: How would you describe your sound? 

HG: We try to blend synths and acoustic instruments in a tasteful way. The acoustic stuff keeps the songs organic and feeling as they were originally written (by Tim on a guitar) and the synths just help place those songs in whatever world you want. Whether it’s dreamy like Reckless or Creatures, or dark and intimate like Honest Mistake.

S: Tell us more about your debut album, Welcome Back. What was the journey to debut the album like and what are you working on now? 

HG: Tim had written about a hundred songs since he started Handsome Ghost and for Welcome Back and they were all up for discussion. Some were written way back 2014 and some were written after we had thought we finished the album. We wanted to really take our time so we build a little home studio to work out of so we could make sure everything was just honest. It was a lot of trial and error getting the right songs and the right sound to tell the story. Right now we’re just getting ready for this tour. We’re also starting to plan out the next album.

S: Loving the dreamy sounds of Reckless Lover! Can you tell us more about your inspiration for this song? 

HG: The song is about a relationship, the same relationship the rest of Welcome Back is based on, condensed into a specific memory. It’s about looking back at that relationship as a memory with a lot of time passed. Dreamy is a good word for it. Sonically, we were trying to build this world around that moment so it felt how it often feels when you look back at memories. Sometimes even the clearest moments are dreamy… a little fleeting in a way.

S: What are looking forward to this year? 

HG: After we finish our headline tour supporting Welcome Back, we’re hoping to get back home and get to work on the next record. We just started thinking about what it might look like and were both really excited about it. This part of the process is exciting. We still really value the concept of the album, and we’re thinking big for this next one.

S: What can we expect from your show in Seattle on June 6th at Barboza? 

HG: We’re hoping to be honest to the record. If we do it right, there will be moments that feel very very intimate and others that feel wide open and lush. Throughout, though, hopefully it’s a night that you can hear the album and the music in a different way. We’re also so excited to have Beta Radio out with us. Those guys make beautiful music.