Reese Lansangan’s ‘Ghosting’ — off ‘Playing Pretend in the Interim’ EP — is Imaginative, Playful, and Peculiarly Familiar

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“Ghosting,” found midway through Reese Lanslangan’s latest five-track EP “Playing Pretend in the Interim,” was born out of an online writing prompt generator. Stretching out her song-crafting ability, she writes from the perspective of a wandering spirit — and presents an exciting musical narrative that is imaginative yet peculiarly familiar to some degree.

In the track, the singer-songwriter transforms into a haunting ghost who is displaced when its home — a grand piano — is sold elsewhere. The ghost tries to claim a new space in a park only to be expelled by a cat. The song ends on a bittersweet note, with the protagonist seeing a fellow departed archetypally float to a better place.

“I can see another brother float towards the sky/ I am doomed to roam alone while he’s waving goodbye,” Lansangan laments in the outro, reiterating the lonesome, vagabond state of her persona in the song.

A vivid storyteller, Lansangan uses a supernatural-fiction approach in this track. And whether intentional or not, she paints a picture that is still relatable to many. Her track revolves around a theme that resonates with, well, the living: longing for a home, a space where one can be free.

Though “Ghosting” can be as deep as it can get, it is primarily a fun listen.

While it can be attributed to how the indie star herself enjoyed the process of creating this “experimental riot of a song,” the final melodic output plays a crucial part in making the track a standout. This particular cut uses elements of jazz, blues, and rock — sounds that are refreshing (given that her more recent tracks are folk and pop-heavy) yet not completely new to her musical arsenal (in her 2015 debut effort “Arigato, Internet,” the tracks “Bleed,” “Creeper,” and “Slick,” already have these sensibilities).

Topping it all off are her tasteful vocal inflections that add a more mischievous character to this earworm.

True to Lansangan’s goal of telling “hyper-specific experiences with borrowed eyes” through her new EP, “Ghosting” provides a unique viewpoint of a subject that’s profoundly familiar. All while highlighting her creativity as a melody-maker, the song leaves her listeners pondering: Aren’t we all wanderers trying to find a home to settle down in?

Listen to Reese Lansangan’s “Ghosting” below:

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Stream her “Playing Pretend in the Interim” EP below:

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