Dalton’s Nate Harar always felt he had a great synth song in him. “Maybe it’s due to the laziness of wanting to create something without having to take out my guitar,” says the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter. “Or maybe it’s just fun to scroll through all the interesting synth presets.”
An unhurried, life-affirming anthem guided by a persistent groove, “Give Up The Ghost” began with the rhythm track. “I built it from there,” says Harar. “Each verse and chorus builds, with a new element added in every section—and I did eventually have to add some real guitar at the end.”
Like everything else on Dalton’s fifth LP, More Songs About Love And Death, its lead single was executed and produced by Harar in his small studio apartment. And while there’s nothing overtly lo-fi about it, More Songs’ melodic efficiency, clever arrangements and stripped-down (yet resourceful) instrumentation are true to the spirit of DIY trailblazers like Pavement, Sebadoh and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
“When a track instrumentally feels happy to me, I’ll usually offset it with lyrics,” says Harar. “I imagined the protagonist in ‘Give Up The Ghost’ visiting a friend who’s locked up somewhere and urging the person to ‘come away from your window.’ This can be interpreted as not jumping out of the window or, more generously, coming back to reality. The twist is that the friend is already gone, and this whole recounting is happening in the protagonist’s head. But, hey, you can also dance to it.”
We’re proud to premiere Dalton’s “Give Up The Ghost.” Look for More Songs About Love And Death on October 10.
—Hobart Rowland
