Ghost of Panama emerged in 2022 as a fluid musical project that has since evolved into the focused partnership of Keith Welham and Cristabel Liu. Their early years saw singles like “Doctor Strange” and “North Atlantic Station” alongside live performances across London, but by 2024 they’d shifted to prioritize studio work over live shows. This transition marked a creative turning point, moving from singles to the more expansive EP format with “The Wrecking of the Cargo King” – their first release as a duo.
Ghost of Panama’s “Astral Days and Spectral Letters” EP creates an interesting journey through different moods and sonic ambiance. “Astronauts” opens things with a strong retro-influenced alt-rock foundation. The interplay between the vintage keys and modern guitar work creates an engaging tension, while the female vocals add emotional depth. The melancholic undertone adds complexity to what could otherwise be a straightforward rock track.
“Spectral” takes an interesting turn with its political commentary framed through that dialogue intro. It’s clever how they maintain an upbeat musical energy while creating an unsettling atmosphere – that contrast between the head-nodding rhythms and the eerie undertones makes for a compelling listen.
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“Letter from Einstein” by Ghost of Panama provides a necessary breath with its slower pace and flowing instrumentation. The retro elements here feel more contemplative, creating space for introspection while keeping listeners engaged.
“Awayday” by Ghost of Panama closes with an interesting balance – bringing back the energy while adding this dreamy, reality-bending quality to the sound. It’s like they’re taking the established elements from earlier tracks and pushing them into more experimental territory.
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We had an opportunity to talk to Ghost of Panama about their new work and more. Keep reading to know all about it.
1. Hey Ghost of Panama! Congratulations on your new EP, “Astral Days and Spectral Letters.” The opening track, “Astronauts,” feels like it belongs to a retro-future dreamscape. How did you balance nostalgia with modern alt-rock sensibilities in that track?
Thanks very much for having us. It’s great to have the opportunity to talk around this EP.
“Astronauts” is our Covid-19 song. I had the melody of the chorus going through my head during lockdown but didn’t at the time think of putting “lockdown” lyrics to it. That came later when I looked back at how isolated people had become not only in their homes but also in their own relationships. It’s like astronauts – if they are in their spacesuits then they are isolated in their own ecosystem even when they are together. It’s a song about loneliness and isolation.
We tried to keep it sparse so we used quite minimal orchestration although allowing it to build through the track. Lyrically, the verse lines are deliberately short to emphasise the lack of communication.
So, we essentially had a pop song that needed to become more melancholy. To that end, we did two further things. Firstly, the chorus. The song is in C and a common chord progression would be C/G/Bb/F but we shifted it to C/Gminor/Bb/F which gives it that more melancholic feel. The second thing we did was just a bit of a sound effect (we like doing stuff like that) by adding the sonar ping. Although it has nothing to do with astronauts per se, that indication of searching makes it a very lonely sound.
2. The dialogue opening in “Spectral” has an almost cinematic eeriness. Was it always meant to set such a political and sarcastic tone, or did that emerge organically?
“Spectral” is a highly political song about ghosts moving through time and being present at the birth of fascism. The quote from the McCarthy witch hunts is to set the tone. I needed the quotes to frame the lyrics including the populist rhetoric. The real key quote, though, is the father and daughter talking.
It’s an odd thing about fascists – you can never find one when you want one (!). They are always calling themselves something else – never fascists.
Again with this one, we had the song first and used the quotes later to really emphasise the lyrics.
3. “Letter from Einstein” feels like a sonic exhale in the EP. Did you intentionally design it as a ‘calm in the storm,’ or was that more of a subconscious flow?
It’s certainly a more reflective song. It was inspired by Einstein’s letter to Roosevelt alerting him about Germany’s nuclear programme and urging the USA to embark on the road to the atomic bomb. Given Einstein was a pacifist, it must have hurt him to do that but he saw the necessity. It got me thinking about how often and why do we do things in our own lives. The message is that we all have to do things we hate to safeguard our own lifestyles whether that is going to work, cleaning the house or whatever.
So, on one level it’s a sort of love song. One of our aims is to write songs that take a different approach or write about different subjects from the usual. I mean, who needs yet another song called “The Power of Love” or whatever.
So, to get back to your question. It wasn’t really planned. I had the guitar intro already plus the sort of 1980s synth line and Cris found a melody over top. It came together quite quickly and, as you say, has a nice quiet downbeat feel to it.
4. The EP has a strong sense of emotional contrast-melancholy layered with energy. How do you both approach creating that push-and-pull?
That’s a great question and one that I hadn’t really thought about before. As a writer, I have always tended to veer towards melancholia but always enjoyed lively upbeat music. So, yes, there’s a clear tension there. Sometimes we get a tune and nothing seems to fit or some lyrical ideas and imagery don’t easily find a home.
However, we are lucky as that we are both non-linear people. By that I mean that we are comfortable having a lot of material in varying stages of development and are happy switching between things. We don’t have to finish one song to start another. So, I think sometimes the atmosphere of one song permeates others. I think that’s what creates the contrasts and is probably a blessing.
5. The title “Astral Days and Spectral Letters” is poetic yet mysterious. How did you land on it, and how does it tie the EP together as a whole?
Well, we were struggling for a title. The EP carries a general theme of distance and isolation but we couldn’t think of a title that really worked. So, we employed the Burroughs-like cut up trick we used on the title of our first EP (“The Wrecking of the Cargo King”) where we used a reference to each individual song to come up with a title.
So, in this case:
Astronauts – Astral
Spectral – Spectral
Letter from Einstein – Letters
Awayday – days.
Voila. And, as you say, it covers the atmosphere quite nicely.
6. This is your second chapter as a duo. How did the dynamic between you two shape the emotional arc of the EP compared to your earlier singles?
Personally, I am a lot more relaxed now. I don’t have to sing and I know we sound better because of that. Cris is such a professional that she just nails the performance really quickly whereas in the past it took ages to clean up my vocals.
We’ve got to know eachother better and have developed a way of working that suits both of our lifestyles and allows us to work quite quickly.
We both have clearly defined roles but there are crossovers. Although I do most of the writing Cris’s input matters and we do throw a lot of stuff out. Generally, I’ll guide her to a melody and then leave it to her to improve it and she’ll make some suggestions about instrumentation or play something herself.
7. What’s next for Ghost of Panama?
By the time this is published, our next EP “Before Records Began” should be out. We’re still reviewing where to go beyond that. Most likely, though, we’ll try to build further on the momentum of “Astral Days and Spectral Letters” by putting out a single (“Damage”) quite soon.
Beyond that, we will be aiming at two more EPs over the next few months. One will be all new material and the other will close out the back catalogue with Cris and I reworking the remaining early singles (“Doctor Strange”, North Atlantic Station” and “The Big Lie”) into an EP reflecting our current sound and approach.
All of this is typical of the Ghost of Panama way of working – we are clear where we’re going but not when. So – no timelines.
Although we’d love to go out on the road and promote these and other songs, it’s just not practical at the moment. We’d need to recruit more people to put energy into the songs live and I don’t see how we’ll find the time and resources to do that in the near future.
Enjoy listening to “Astral Days and Spectral Letters” by Ghost of Panama here.
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