Ghost In The Willow's homage for a friend in "A Song For Alice"

Ghost In The Willow centers around singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Gil Rodriguez based out of Phoenix, Arizona and backed by the talents of Sam Etling on guitar and vox, Ian Deal on bass and Sean Harris on drums. The track A Song For Alice, inspired by a friend's suicide is a heavy, chunky post punk affair with dark revelatory lyrics bolstered by surprising flourishes of sounds that remind me of sock hop punk. It is the double time chorus that is so moving as oooohs abound around lovely sentiments. It is then punctuated by this almost 60's (Girl Group) descending guitar notes that reminds me of bells, dah, dah, daaaaah. Brilliant and a beautiful tribute for a friend. 

-
Robb Donker 





THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

This song was written in the weeks after I lost my close friend, Alice. She was the first person of, sadly, many I lost to suicide. Trying to figure out the emotions that goes with such a sudden loss, I just wanted to get out the pain in my chest and this song just bounced and flopped right out. In many ways I consider this the first proper song I wrote that came from something that happened directly to me. I carried the song in my back pocket waiting for the right time and circumstances to record it properly and when we finally did, it just felt good to revisit the memory of my friend. What made it extra cool was our guitarist Sam Etling's backup vocals on the chorus's and Elijah Newman's wonderful job mixing out in Nashville.

FROM FACEBOOK:

When he’s not performing with AZ based punk rock trio The Combat Medic, singer/guitarist Gil Rodriguez performs his more intimate side as Ghost In The Willow. Sometimes backed by a few musicians and sometimes going it alone, performing songs in the key of heartache is what Ghost In The Willow does best.

Regarding the self titled and self released debut EP, Yab Yum Music & Arts writes “What makes this EP enjoyable is how true to form and accessible the songs are from the first go ’round.”
Armed with a few chords and songs people can relate to, Ghost In The Willow aims to bring a little bit of hope to as many ears and hearts as possible through sincere performances and honest passion.