Exclusive Interview with Voltaire's Ghost

Artist Spotlight: Voltaire's Ghost

Their latest single, “‘Till The Break Of Day” is a hauntingly beautiful track that gives listeners another taste of the sounds they can find on the band’s album Black Petals Fallen. The album is available now exclusively on Bandcamp digitally and on vinyl. 

With wisdom and candor, Magnus opens up about the creative process, personal growth, and why the music still matters.

MusicsWeek: Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?

Magnus: Typically, a song will start with an idea I bring in to rehearsal, sometimes just a riff, sometimes a fully fleshed-out song structure. A lot of times Ruby (our singer) will already have lyrics or verses that will go with what I’ve brought in; sometimes she’ll craft new lyrics on the spot.

It works the other way, too. Ruby will often bring in words she’s just written and sing them to us a capella. A lot of times I already have a riff or idea that will go with what she’s brought in; sometimes she’ll inspire me to come up with something new on the spot.

However, as a song begins, we keep refining as we bring it into the live set, and of course the refining continues throughout the recording and mixing process until all three of us are happy with the final result.

MusicsWeek: Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics and melodies?

Magnus:  Ruby and I both take a lot of our inspiration from dreams. Entire songs of ours (Dreamwalker, Black Petals Fallen, Jewelry, etc.) had either lyrics or melody that appeared first in one of our dreams. Literature and movies also play a big role, especially those of the gothic variety. Vampirism and other forms of corporeal consumption turn up a lot in our songs, for some reason.

MusicsWeek: How do you handle writer’s block or creative slumps?

Magnus: Thankfully, we have not yet had the issue of writer’s block. If anything, we have too many ideas. We continue to inspire each other, and we’re so grateful for it.

MusicsWeek: How do you know when a song is truly finished?

Magnus: It’s true, whoever said it: “art is never finished, it’s just abandoned.” We are pretty good at resisting the temptation to tinker with something just for the sake of tinkering. At some point it has to be published, uploaded, printed, or otherwise released into the wild. The great news is that the songs can continue to evolve and grow in the live set, and they do!

MusicsWeek: How do you decide on the theme or concept for an album?

Magnus: The songs determine the feel of the album, and will often dictate everything downstream from that, including art, title, etc. Often a standout track can serve as an emotional anchor to the whole collection. That’s what happened with the song “Black Petals Fallen.” It summed up so much of what we wanted to say and what we hoped audiences would feel that we named the entire album after it.

MusicsWeek: Do you write music on the road or only in a dedicated space?

Magnus:  We write all the time, everywhere, together and separately. 

MusicsWeek: How do you handle a song idea that doesn't fit into your current project?

Magnus: We bank it for another project! We had to leave four songs off the Black Petals Fallen album, for example. It was painful, but we love those songs, and they will appear somehow, sometime. Maybe on the next record, maybe as a standalone EP, maybe on an expanded version of the album….

MusicsWeek: Do you ever revisit old songs to rework or find inspiration?

Magnus: Yes, our current single, ‘Till The Break of Day is a great example of that. I had written and released that song as a pretty bare-bones, basically a demo, before I met Josh and Ruby. When it came time to record the Black Petals album, we decided to re-record it. It ended up being the album closer, and the emotional response we’re getting from listeners is just overwhelming. I’m so glad we revisited that song — Josh and Ruby helped bring it to life, and for all three of us, I think it’s among our best performances on the album.