Taking care of your own mental health is important. Everyone copes in their own way, both healthy and unhealthy. Sometimes you just need to change. You need to switch things up just to feel okay again. This concept is perfectly captured by Love Ghost’s ‘Fade Away (Shave My Head).’ It’s so hard to pull yourself out of a mental headspace when everything is mundane and unchanging. I think that’s why we strive to change up our aesthetic or go somewhere new. When life is a constant mental struggle, we need to be moving forward. Forward to a place where we’re more comfortable being ourselves.
‘Fade Away (Shave My Head)’ is such a powerful grungy tune. The music perfectly combines with the lyricism. It’s uptempo beat pulls you forward. It says, “I need to do something about this, and it has to be now.” The chorus has so much power behind it. The heavy belted vocals are just right, and they pull in so much emotion. Vocalist Finnegan bell displays wonderful diversity in this track. The slight rasp to his vocal tone, pulls in the perfect punky sound. The guitar and drums do a great job at swiping you off your feet and pulling you into the raw energy of the song. The guitar solo near the end is extremely precise and masterfully done, and the drums add a perfectly energetic beat. Overall, ‘Fade Away (Shave My Head),’ is a track that takes grunge and dashes in other influences to make it more modern. It truly has the ability to draw more people in to a heavier sound.
The lyricism in ‘Fade Away (Shave My Head)’ packs the perfect relatable punch. I know I’ve at least been there. It feels like it draws from the exact moment in time when depression and anxiety become overwhelming. It’s such a dark emotion that it captures, one from the depths of mental health. It’s a place that many people have been, and one that I’ve personally been myself. The lyrics “I’m standing on a ledge right now / Getting closer to the edge right now / And I’m screaming / at myself, don’t fade away / Don’t fade away, don’t fade away, don’t fadе away,” really stick out to me. When it feels like the end of your rope, there’s a desperation there. Sometimes you just need to convince yourself to keep that fire burning and keep on moving ahead.
Love Ghost consists of Finnegan Bell (lead vocals, guitar), Daniel Alcala (guitar, backing vocals), Samson Young (guitar, backing vocals), and Cory Batchler (keys, backing vocals). The members have had a passion for music since a young age, and they have come together to mesh that with mental health advocacy. They provide music to relate to. Music that says, “You aren’t alone.” Love Ghost pulls from an eclectic source of styles. There’s some grunge, some hip-hop, and some emo. They really have a colorful pallet of genre, and that can be seen throughout their discography. They’ve opened for bands such as Smash Mouth, Fuel, and the Tubes and have been featured in playlists such as Spotify’s Alternative Beats, Apple Music’s Fresh Blood, and SoundCloud’s Amped Rock. Love Ghost has gathered over a million streams, and they keep releasing extremely well-produced and powerful tracks.
Written by Sage Plapp
