Render Ghosts – Keeping My Number (Spotify)
“If you prefer colourful music with energetic mood, you should check this bright Synthpop creation. "Render Ghosts" have dynamically entered the scene and their sound can stick out of the ordinary. Just listen and enjoy.”
-Nagamag.com
Render Ghosts (London/Utrecht) are a new trio making effortlessly melodic alternative pop.
Their life-affirming sound brings together three wildly different musical personalities for the first time:
Tamara van Esch is well known in the Netherlands as a singer-songwriter singing in Dutch, and as a multi-instrumentalist in bands such as Jo Goes Hunting, Drive Like Maria and Kim Janssen.
Tom O.C Wilson is a classically-trained composer of chamber pop songs, whose music is described as simultaneously playful, complex and joyous.
Iain Chambers is a sound artist who uses buildings as instruments, famously turning London’s Tower Bridge into a massive resonating chamber. He’s also a founder member of the experimental electronic ensemble, Langham Research Centre.
Render Ghosts debuted in December 2021 with Eye Rhyme, an 80s-tinged anthem introducing their trademark blend of crystalline synths and infectious melodies. It was immediately picked up by Amazing Radio, Fresh on the Net and BBC 6 Music Introducing, and named by blogger Allen Richards as the best debut single of 2021.
The follow-up, Keeping My Number, is if anything even catchier, built around a chorus inspired by the commercial pop the band were listening to while crafting their first album (Dua Lipa, Alex Hosking, Jax Jones).
Lyrically, the song is sassy but bittersweet, with the narrator struggling to make her ex see that their relationship is truly over.
Reviewed by Nagamag on March 2, 2022