Margaux Sauvé and Louis-Étienne Santais of Ghostly Kisses understand the allure of a secret. The hum and hiss of its magnetism. The unimaginable joy of being a conduit for openness. We all want to feel intimacy, the pull of our heart, growing and learning together. So Ghostly Kisses set out on a seemingly impossible journey to collect anonymous stories and letters from fans around the world through their “Box of Secrets” posted to the band’s website. Sauvé and her partner Santais synthesized those missives into the mesmeric Darkroom (due March 22nd via Akira Records), a record that wills our inner monologue into view, tears falling on the dancefloor only to find mystic connection in the darkest electronic corners. Darkroom illuminates the gossamer threads connecting fans around the world, weaving anonymity into a microcosm of comfort, and a safe space for reinvention for the Quebec City-based band.
Fresh off the critical success of a debut album steeped in introspective reflection on painful experiences, we arrive here. In a global post-pandemic, postmodern era of pain, the Box of Secrets revealed an intense and strange loneliness felt around the world. “So many people were telling us that they listened to our music through heartbreak, grief, pain, questions they asked themselves, so I thought we should give others a safe space to do the same,” Sauvé explains. “For this project I wanted to live in those themes, those experiences, to make it a multidimensional conversation.” The resulting songs further showcase Sauvé’s ability to lightly convey complex floods of emotion via poignant, unforgettable songwriting. And through her classical violin training and Santais’ multi-instrumentalist wizardry, these stories fold into compositions that simultaneously reach the grandeur of a classical epic and the lux, experimental electronic pop of the likes of Caroline Polachek and Romy Madley Croft.
While fans of 2022’s full-length debut, Heaven, Wait, will still find plenty familiar, this new record brims with surprises—even to Ghostly Kisses. As an album, Darkroom takes the photo negatives of the intense, personal emotions conveyed in the Box of Secrets, and develops them into fully fledged empathic masterpieces. “For example, we heard from a lot of fans from countries where they couldn’t openly love the person they were in love with for political or social reasons,” Sauvé says. “I felt that pain, identified with it in my own way, and knew many others would too.” “Golden Eyes” taps into that heartbreak and tragedy in a Björk-esque hypnotic build. Pairing rushing electronic winds with layered vocals panning across the mix, the track pulses to wordless male harmonies reminiscent of Gregorian chants. “Some kind of truth that I can’t conceal/ Let me know if I can try to be somebody for you,” Sauvé’s falsetto sighs over the skip-click beat.
The duo’s style of writing also reflects that ability to bridge the gap between people who may feel far away. Traditionally, Sauvé and Santais would each set up in a different room, sharing snippets via email and only meeting up to finalize ideas. “Writing separately ensures we’re not influenced by anything else, and we can bring more depth to our process,” Sauvé says. This time, the messages from the Box of Secrets provided an unusual baseline for that influence rather than just their own individual experiences, and the result refracts and shimmers kaleidoscopically. After compiling demos, Ghostly Kisses brought in new collaborators to further bolster their new electronic palette: co-producers George FitzGerald (London Grammar, as well as solo work) and Oli Bayston (Boxed In, Yune Pinku). Longtime engineer (and Santais’ cousin) Alex Ouzilleau further helped shape the work in the studio, and Gabriel Desjardins’ string arrangements add depth and drama to the proceedings. To test their boundaries even further, Ghostly Kisses tested their recordings while on tour, a new step in their process and a portal into connecting more with their music and their fans.
A prime example of that live energy comes in second single “Keep It Real”, a track that tackles the propulsive electronic burn of Kid A-era Radiohead, the whispered magic of electropop provocateur Aurora, and the endless dramatic flair of Portishead. “Quiet please/ Let’s not do it again,” Sauvé repeats in a paradoxically intense whisper over the thumping bass, the song like a tractor beam pulling constantly deeper into the heart of the issue. Other album highlights include the blissful “There’s No More Space”, a slow-swaying dazzler built on light synth and a wash of strings, and “Lost In Paradise” with its rippling percussion and ghostly choir. A slinky R&B rhythm and staccato guitar ripples propel the conflicted romance of “On and Off”, while “Calm Down” finds its footing in the center of the dancefloor, the layers of synth and percussion weaving in and out of each other like a roiling sea—the perfect churn for Sauvé’s equally hopeful but uncertain repeated “Maybe we can figure it out.”
Each track of Darkroom’s magnetic run comprises its own world, with Sauvé’s vocals as the radiant arc connecting their orbits, the moments and themes shared by fans finding resonances—the whole Ghostly Kisses universe together even when expressing its loneliness. In moments, Ghostly Kisses offer an awe-inspiring hope for connection, for love, even when it seems impossible. By opening up their music to be the conduit for other people’s stories, they landed up finding their own. And by doing so through the stories of their fans and in new, more kinetic tones, Darkroom should prompt that same hope in many around the world who may otherwise have felt the darkness creeping too far in.
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Short Version
Margaux Sauvé and Louis-Étienne Santais of Ghostly Kisses understand the allure of a secret. The hum and hiss of its magnetism. The unimaginable joy of being a conduit for openness. We all want to feel intimacy, the pull of our heart, growing and learning together. So Ghostly Kisses set out on a seemingly impossible journey to collect anonymous stories and letters from fans around the world through their “Box of Secrets” posted to the band’s website. Sauvé and her partner Santais synthesized those missives into the mesmeric Darkroom (due March 22nd via Akira Records), a record that wills our inner monologue into view, tears falling on the dancefloor only to find mystic connection in the darkest electronic corners.
Darkroom illuminates the gossamer threads connecting fans around the world, weaving anonymity into a microcosm of comfort, and a safe space for reinvention for the Quebec City-based band. Fresh off the critical success of a debut album steeped in introspective reflection on painful experiences, we arrive here. In a global post-pandemic, postmodern era of pain, the Box of Secrets revealed an intense and strange loneliness felt around the world. “So many people were telling us that they listened to our music through heartbreak, grief, pain, questions they asked themselves, so I thought we should give others a safe space to do the same,” Sauvé explains. “For this project I wanted to live in those themes, those experiences, to make it a multidimensional conversation.” The resulting songs further showcase Sauvé’s ability to lightly convey complex floods of emotion via songwriting that simultaneously reach the grandeur of a classical epic and the lux, experimental electronic pop of the likes of Caroline Polachek and Romy Madley Croft.
This time, the messages from the Box of Secrets provided an unusual baseline for Ghostly Kisses, bolstered by new collaborators: co-producers George FitzGerald (London Grammar, as well as solo work) and Oli Bayston (Boxed In, Yune Pinku). Longtime engineer (and Santais’ cousin) Alex Ouzilleau further helped shape the work in the studio, and Gabriel Desjardins’ string arrangements add depth and drama to the proceedings. To test their boundaries even further, Ghostly Kisses tested their recordings while on tour, a new step in their process and a portal into connecting more with their music and their fans.
Each track of Darkroom’s magnetic run comprises its own world, with Sauvé’s vocals as the radiant arc connecting their orbits. Ghostly Kisses offer an awe-inspiring hope for connection, for love, even when it seems impossible. By opening up their music to be the conduit for other people’s stories, they landed up finding their own, prompting that same hope around the world.
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