A gentle, subtle, flowing, hypnotizing, engaging song featuring a phantom with long-term vision, empathy, and a taste for eating sand (or tucking into a dream). How can you not like ‘Ghost’ (originally released in 2024) from Japanese indie poppers, Hamabe? They’ve been around since 2016, and I wish I’d discovered them earlier.
There’s nothing flashy or showy about this tune, and that’s refreshing. The clean vibrato chord holds, the almost never-changing drumbeat, the quarter-note-thumping bass, and the soft tenor voice pull us into a dreamscape of spirits, meditation, and otherworldly mental images. Close your eyes and drift away for 5 minutes.
The 55-second musical interlude about 3 minutes into the number gives us an understated organ and a slightly fuzzed-up guitar, each having its moment and pushing me toward their album ‘Seaside’, where I suspect other gems are biding their time for new listeners.
Now, let’s find out what Yuji Tsukamoto’s lyrics say. Roughly translated to English (thanks, DeepL), ‘Ghost’ goes like this:
Gazing into the distance
The next scene comes to mind
If I close my eyes, I should know
Gazing into the distance
Following the lingering image
If I close my eyes, I should know
A water surface
Changing my hair
A ghost gazing into the distance
Understanding each other
Chewing sand
If I close my eyes, I should know
Meanwhile, ChatGPT proposes this translation, so take your pick. But, the gist is the same:
I absentmindedly look into the distance
The next scene comes to mind
If I close my eyes, I should understand
I absentmindedly look into the distance
Tracing a lingering image
If I close my eyes, I should understand
Like the surface of water
Changing its form
The afterglow of looking far away
Understanding each other
Biting into a dream
If I close my eyes, I should understand
Written by Greg Gobel
