In physical art, negative space is the empty space around the subject. In music, it refers to the intentional use of silence or stripped-back instrumentals to create a sense of stillness. When faithfully executed, the effect can feel haunting, and no musical artist has perfected this craft quite as well as the duo By Storm (Nathaniel Ritchie and Parker Corey) on their debut album, “My Ghosts Go Ghost.”
The album’s opener, “Can I Have You for Myself,” starts with a soft, intimate guitar line over faint static. Ritchie’s bars come off as a stream of consciousness, as if the listener were peering into his mind. With a child on the way, a realization seems to strike the song’s protagonist; he quickly prefaces, “Don’t get it twisted, baby, I’m thankful,” but confesses his worry, saying, “I guess it just hit me, how the little things are gonna change too.” In the face of this lifestyle change, there is a sense of mourning as he reckons with the loss of the familiar. He reminisces on the intimate moments, the picture frames or even the fact that his shoes will be different when he “chases our youngin’.” With such a beautiful change, he feels a very primal emotion: the fear of change. He knows that it’s coming, so there’s no use fighting, but even so, his synthesized voice pleads one last time, “Can I have you for myself?”
But the future comes, and it comes fast. As Ritchie’s vocals fade, a baby’s cry emerges in the instrumental, and with that, the track shifts entirely. A distorted drum loop takes over and the guitars overlap more erratically as the glitchiness grows and swells; the song seems like it’s falling apart. This chaos, however, isn’t purposeless; it marks an evolution. Things were lost, but things were gained. It’s this polarity between the emptiness of loss and the fullness of new that makes the album distinct.
To understand this feeling, it is necessary to look back at By Storm’s history. In 2012, the hip hop trio Injury Reserve was formed by Nathaniel Ritchie, Parker Corey and Jordan “Stepa J.” Groggs. For a while, they were at the forefront of experimental hip hop. However, in 2020, Groggs passed away. It wasn’t until the release of Injury Reserve’s final album “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (with Groggs’ contributions still on it) in 2021 and the subsequent announcement that Ritchie and Parker were retiring the Injury Reserve name that some sense of closure was given. “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” was boundary-pushing and their bravest effort to date, and Parker and Ritchie seem dedicated to pursuing that sound with By Storm.
Even with the themes of loss on the album, “My Ghosts Go Ghost” doesn’t feel mournful or melancholic, but contemplative. “In My Town” is a trance-like seven-minute long ambient hip-hop track; the only way to describe its sound is the feeling of watching cars pass by on a highway from atop a bridge. It doesn’t soothe the listener as a genre like a dream pop track would, but, instead, plunges them into the abyss as Ritchie talks about his financial insecurities. He recognizes the irony in being a famous rapper yet working a service job as he raps, “Here I am deliverin’ eats, writin’ in the car now,” but isn’t shy to then rap, “Them Shell gift cards will hit hard now.” The second half of the song is an extended instrumental, growing slowly with bass hits, vocal samples, twinkling synths and hi-hats, allowing the listener to fall into the sea of stars it creates.
With how comfortable By Storm is with their darker soundscapes, they display their full mastery of bright instrumentation on “Double Trio 2.” There’s a bit of a fakeout at the song’s start, with some distorted horns shying their way in and out until they implode into a symphony of distorted horns, piano chops, saxophone grooves and furious rapping. It’s a partial remix of By Storm’s 2023 debut single “Double Trio,” but where the first version was mournful and reflective, “Double Trio 2” is triumphant, bright and in-your-face. The instrumental differs from the rest of the album successfully, as does “Best Interest,” which features fellow experimental rapper billy woods, with its choppy strings and lowkey flows. “And I Dance” sees By Storm rejoicing as well, as Ritchie exclaims, “I got ash in my locs, and I dance!”
“GGG,” the album’s closer, revisits the acoustic guitar looping from the opener, but instead of a slow, contemplative melody, this one is brighter, more hopeful, but still torn. The feeling of both wanting to move on but still holding on to the ghosts of those you love is one perfectly captured on the track, but in Ritchie’s case, his ghosts went ghost. He details trying his hardest to reconnect, whether that be lighting candles or rearranging his things, but he feels nothing. He asks himself, “Was this all just a little game shit? / Was this all just some type of show where my ghosts go ghost?” He gains closure, but the question is left hanging at what he’s lost to achieve it.
The push and pull of gain and loss, yet finding a way to push through, is what makes “My Ghosts Go Ghost” uniquely intimate, raw and deeply moving, with its brave instrumentals and tender lyricism.
