LISTEN: Jennifer Greer Shares Early Preview of New LP

Speaking with Ghosts out everywhere tomorrow

June 6, 2024June 6, 2024 Ron Hart 0 Comments Bay Area, California, Cathedrals, Jennifer Greer, Jon Herrera, Juan David Mejia, McKay Garner, Michael "MG" Grate, Natalie Raney, Speaking with Ghosts, Stanley Jordan

Speaking with Ghosts, the new album from Bay Area singer-songwriter Jennifer Greer, is a beautiful showcase of lyrical intimacy and instrumental prowess illustrating her growth as an artist.

Greer’s piano playing is poised with both elegance and fervor, augmented by huge choruses and sweeping string arrangements that lift up songs like “Tidal Wave” and the gorgeous title track that displays an emotional cross-section of Nina Simone-evoking piano jazz and Lilith Fair-rooted alt-pop.

To bring her vision to reality Greer turned to 2-time Grammy Award winning producer Nahuel Bronzini (Tony Toni Toné!, Fantastic Negrito). The tracking took place at Survivor Sound and 25th Street Recording in Oakland, CA. All vocals, harmonies, and guitar overdubs were recorded in Berkeley at Bronzini’s Studio Burgundio. In addition to Greer on lead vocals, piano and harmonies, the record features legendary mix engineer and multi-instrumentalist McKay Garner on drums, bassists Jon Herrera (Cathedrals, Stanley Jordan) and Michael “MG” Grate, and cellists Juan David Mejia and Natalie Raney. In addition to production, Bronzini played acoustic and electric guitar.

Jennifer Greer Speaking with Ghosts, self-released 2024

For Greer, the songs written for Speaking with Ghosts served as a means of processing a series of harrowing events that punctuated her last few years.

“The theme of the album, and the title (and title track) refer to a period in my life (2018) in which I experienced several enormous, heart-rendering deaths/losses very close together in time, (including several miscarriages),” she tells Rock & Roll Globe. “’Speaking with Ghosts’ is about how and in what way we talk to the dead– inside ourselves– how we communicate with the spirits of things that are gone. Many of the songs grapple with grief and the experience of being overwhelmed by loss. I suppose by its very nature then, this is an album about love– because you don’t grieve deeply unless you love deeply, and all the people and things I lost, I loved very deeply.”

There are also songs of levity on here meant to balance out the sorrow as well.

“There is also light sprinkled and scattered around that theme,” Greer details. “Including humor and hopefulness, and a love song to the sea. There are also tremendous ass-shaking grooves on the album overall! Playing with an incredible drummer and bass player is an all-time high, and a necessity for this album.”

Speaking with Ghosts doesn’t come out until tomorrow, but Rock & Roll Globe is honored to give our readers an early sneak preview of the entire record below.

For more information on Jennifer Greer, visit her here.