Following the critical success of previous singles ‘Wide Eyed’ and ‘Funds’, Alternative pop artist Rushes returns with the release of the third single from his upcoming project ‘Glowchild’. The lavish, rave-inspired ‘Blue Ghost’, hauntingly, on Friday the 13th of August.
The pulsating ‘Blue Ghost’, took inspiration from Rushes’s earliest experiences of raving into the long hours of the morning. “It takes me back to the first rave I went to,” Rushes explains, “that feeling of just floating and the raw, unfiltered atmosphere of the environment. It’s probably the most abrasive song on Glowchild,” he adds, elaborating that “while the intro is quite melodic and lavish with that arpeggiated synth line, it leads into a harder hitting rave, club inspired track.”
While the track may draw inspiration from some hazy nights of house, lyrically ‘Blue Ghost’ is far deeper in tone and theme. “‘Blue ghost’ is about attachment and spiralling out of control”, Rushes notes of the track’s lyrics, “As the song builds, I am trying to find something greater than the attachment and looking to make sense of it, whether it was good or not. It’s kind of like someone giving, offering help but it doesn’t land. You end up asking the question if any of it was worth it.”
‘Blue Ghost’ was written and rewritten over a couple of months in 2019, with Rushes continuing to refine the track until the very last day of recording. “I remember the vocal session kept crashing just from the sheer amount of takes. I’ll do hundreds of takes when I’m recording my vocals, making sure that what I want is portrayed exactly how I want it to be.”
It’s not only the vocals that were parsed through as Rushes admits to spending countless hours focused on the orchestral section of the track, which leads into a rave inspired drum pattern, accompanied by floating synths. “Different sections pop in and out and take you on that journey, the song spirals through the motions. I wanted there to be that switch in the track, it’s almost like going into the underworld,” Rushes adds.
The music video was shot in West Cork by Eddie O’Flaherty in the midnight hours. Rushes explains of the concept, “It’s kind of a sequel to the ‘Wide Eyed’ video, raw but really showcasing the power and the idea of the song.” The video finds Rushes, in a shirt and suit pants, searching haphazardly through the final embers of the night, waiting for the world to stop spinning and in need of a place to lay his head. Rushes explains, “’While ‘Wide Eyed’ deals with attachment; ‘Blue Ghost’ is more about spiralling out of control with that attachment. I kind of lost myself making this video, and maybe I was subconsciously bringing myself back to that time of what I was experiencing when I wrote the song.” Capturing the track’s desultory format and ever-changing tempo and theme, ‘Blue Ghost’ shows us all that it’s okay not to have your world in order. Chaos can breed its own form of relief, and with it can produce some of the world’s most beautiful art. The music video for ‘Blue Ghost’ is set to be released on August 19th.
‘Blue Ghost’ follows on from the huge success of Rushes’s previous singles with media support from Irish publications such as District Magazine, Hot Press, Nialler9, Goldenplec, The Last Mixtape and Soul Doubt Magazine, alongside international publications such as CLASH Magazine and Enfant Terribles. On Spotify, Rushes’ has been added to editorial playlists such as New Music Friday UK, New Pop UK and Chilled Pop Hits.
Rushes’ last release, ‘Funds’ has received huge radio support, reaching No.2 and staying in the Top 5 on the Irish Breaker’s chart for 5 weeks; the highest-ranked independent artist, behind industry big-hitters such as Gavin James. To date, ‘Funds’ has gained over 4.4 million impacts on Irish Radio, adding to ‘Wide Eyed’’s 1.2 million impacts. “Rushes was born to write sun-kissed, top down summer anthems,” District Magazine wrote and ‘Blue Ghost’ is the perfect example of such skills.
Raised in the rural West Cork town of Skibbereen, Rushes blends the craft of perceptive songwriting with thoughtful melodies to create ambient stylings of epic proportions. Oozing iridescent poise and elegance with eager, soulful, vocals and cutting-edge hazy electronic sounds, Rushes pushes the art of pop songwriting to its very limits, all in the name of finding new and exciting sounds to play with.
Fittingly released on Friday 13th, ‘Blue Ghost’, the third single to be released ahead of Rushes’s much-anticipated upcoming project ‘Glowchild’ on September 10th. Encapsulating the formative journey of struggle, fierce ambition, love, loss, and the clarity brought on by an eventual sense of self-awareness; ‘Glowchild’ is a beautifully sensitive story woven through its collection of nine tracks.
‘Blue Ghost’ audio available on August 13th
‘Glowchild’ available September 10th
Pre-save: https://ffm.to/blueghost-rushes
