The music behind the mask: WesGhost on achieving connectivity in an increasingly isolated world
Masks serve as a shroud, veiling underlying emotions, a façade used to conceal or divert from reality. They redirect attention away from the superficial, compelling the gaze towards deeper, more visceral aspects. As humans, we navigate life by shedding various masks at will, revealing different facets of ourselves. The potential for us to mask is ever-present, irrespective of time or place. For WesGhost, the act of masking serves as a means to amplify our capacity to feel, fostering vulnerability without the looming fear of judgment.
Of course, in WesGhost’s case, the masking is quite literal. “The intent behind [the mask] was not to have a gimmick,” the artist tells Far Out, explaining the reasoning behind his concealment. “I wear the mask because I don’t want it to be about anything other than how the music makes people feel. You can’t judge what I look like, you can’t judge who I am or what I’ve done, you can only take the music at face value.”
Centring solely on his artistic expressions, WesGhost finds inspiration anywhere and at any moment, often drawn from deeply personal experiences like the solitude of adolescence. His music serves as both an exercise in spontaneous musical creativity and an encouragement for the disenfranchised to awaken, confront the world with courage, and embrace hope through his unique worldview.
Many artists often craft unique musical tapestries within the confines of their own solitude. WesGhost manoeuvres through this exact landscape in every project, working independently while sharing glimpses with his online fan community. “My process is very, very personal,” he explains. “I write all the music. I produce everything on my own. I play multiple instruments, and play guitar, piano, bass, and a little bit of drums. […] And most of the time, it’s a lot of processing stuff from my past, like relationships that I’ve had.”
In this way, music serves as a means for WesGhost to navigate and make sense of specific events or emotions, fostering a sense of newfound healing or, at the very least, providing a different perspective. “For me, I feel like a lot of the more recent releases like ‘Cursed’, ‘Doomed’, ‘Expired’; they all kind of come from this place of trying to let certain things go and heal from them,” he explains. “And so I feel like, when I put them down, it allows me to look at that experience and move on from it. It’s very therapeutic.”
Masked yet masterful, WesGhost exhibits prowess not only in crafting connecting lyrics and melodies but also in navigating the realm of social media—an impressive feat given the often overwhelming pace of today’s landscape. His drive to achieve all this adds an extra layer of admiration. “One of the first songs that really affected me as a kid was ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay. I was about 15 years old when I found it, and I had no clue what it meant.”
Continuing, he adds: “It evoked such an emotional response in me that stuck with me, so when I started this project, I thought, if I could recreate what happened to me, which is what the lead singer of Coldplay did: he wrote about it, and it meant something to him, and I could apply my own experience to it. That’s something that I keep [on] top of mind; not everyone goes through the same thing, but we all have the same common basic human emotions to work toward things.”
In recognising the intricate nature of his music, WesGhost acknowledges its capacity to vary in depth—sometimes subtle, other times profoundly resonant. Irrespective of the listener’s emotional state, the music consistently upholds its quality, offering an emotionally accessible space that makes anyone feel a bit less alone.
At the same time, WesGhost recognises the power of rawness and collaboration. In a realm where the final, refined outcome often garners more acclaim than the various developmental stages, WesGhost relies on his distinctive approach of working it out as he goes. When crafting ‘Expired’, he recalls performing an early rendition of the song to his followers on Instagram Live: “I’m sitting there, like, literally in my process, writing the verses in front of them, which is such a cool memory. I’ve never done that before. It’s always very personal and behind closed doors. To have an audience sitting there watching me pulled out this stream of consciousness.”
Many artists lose touch with their fans when their music becomes overly transactional, sidelining the magic found in less polished versions. WesGhost, however, recognises that authenticity is the essence of music. “There are these incredible artists that will post their demos or their music, or they’ll sing it in the car. And it’s very, very raw,” he explains. “If anything, I’m constantly trying to find ways to strip things back and allow it to be more raw to the point where, if somebody listens to it, they feel that raw emotion instead of it sounding too polished or too clean.”
Despite the physical obstacles posed by the mask and the phone screen, WesGhost’s skill in connecting with his audience is unmistakable. His music seamlessly combines the brightest and darkest facets of life with songs like ‘Doomed’, which showcases his versatile range, intertwining vibrant production with profoundly vulnerable and relatable lyrics and leading listeners through the highs and lows of love.
The essence of WesGhost’s music lies in the familiar sense of being an outsider. By crafting music for those who often feel overlooked, the artist continues to achieve that very purpose. “I just want this music to help people as much as it’s helped me,” he explains. “I don’t think I have a clue where I’d be if I didn’t have the ability to write the songs and get them out of my system, and I feel like music is a real communication.”
He concludes: “It’s really just about coming together, uniting through our hardships, and having each other’s backs.”
