Ghost & Writer

The union of two prolific electronic musicians, dark synth pop duo Ghost & Writer were created in 2006 by Belgian producer Jean-Marc Lederman (aka Jimmyjoe Snark III) of the Weathermen and German singer/lyricist Frank M. Spinath of Seabound and Edge of Dawn. The pair released two albums -- 2011's Shipwrecks and 2013's Red Flags -- before they split in the 2010s, moving on to other projects. Their atmospheric style merged goth-leaning synth pop with hints of EBM, echoing a blend of Depeche Mode, VNV Nation, and Covenant. In 2006, Lederman and Spinath were already involved with their respective projects when they met. Lederman was a fan of the Weathermen and contacted Spinath for some merchandise. The two quickly hit it off and became friends. As Ghost & Writer, Lederman composed the music and Spinath wrote deep, insightful lyrics inspired by his day job as a professor of psychology. A handful of their early tracks appeared on 2007's Fourplay compilation, but their official full-length debut wouldn't arrive until January 2011. Introducing a split concept that featured the original album and remix versions of every track, Shipwrecks (Metropolis/Dependent) comprised eight songs and eight reinterpretations by contemporaries File Not Found ("Hitman"), Diskonnekted ("Nightshift"), Acretongue ("Fraud"), and more. They repeated this idea on their sophomore follow-up, Red Flags, which was issued in April 2013. The album featured the single "Never Take Fire" and mastering by Front 242's Daniel Bressanutti, as well as remixes by Akanoid, Dead When I Found Her, and Titanic Moon. A month after the release of Red Flags, the duo abruptly split. They briefly reunited two years later for the demos and rarities collection Girls Rejected, which featured the single "Into Your Girl." However, a planned return to the stage never happened and they went their separate ways once more. Spinath returned to Seabound and kicked off a solo project dubbed Lionhearts, while Lederman continued work on movie and video game soundtracks. In 2018, Ghost & Writer issued the previously unreleased demo "Not Us" (mastered by Edge of Dawn's Mario Schumacher) as an homage to Spinath's father, who had recently died of cancer.
© Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo