Krosst Out puts it all on the line with his sophomore album Phone Calls With Ghosts and the video single Intro (Preface) — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
“This album came out of a place of me trying to come to terms with who I am now,” says the Toronto artist, whose sound fuses trap, hip-hop and grungy alt-rocker. There’s so much emphasis on people changing and moving up and out of wherever they started in life. For me, I’m still that small-town kid, but things are different now; I’m not that kid you used to know, for better or worse. But I’d like to say better.
“The album chronicles youthful mistakes, broken relationships, and the reality that nothing is what it ever will be again,” he continues. “I spent my time explaining to listeners that ghosts aren’t just your ‘run-of-the-mill spooks’ — they’re thoughts and actions of your past that torture you, the people you leave behind, and the moments you never get back. They’re the baggage you never seem to shrug off.”
Phone Calls With Ghosts follows 2017’s debut EP Lifeoftheparty, and a series of singles including Funerals and Drive. The release is an emotive sonic journey chronicling reckless youth and the coming of age.
“I tried to come through with realness and heartache,” says Kross Out, born Aaron Siebenga. “I tried to show off my true colours, even if they may largely be black and white. Drive was the song that solidified where I wanted to go sonically overall for Phone Calls With Ghosts. Drive is my anthem. It’s the song I’ve wanted to make for years, and it’s the song that, if someone were to ask me who I was, I would point to it and tell them: I’m that. It’s grunge, it’s metal, rap, and rock, all in the span of 2:44. It — and Phone Calls With Ghosts — are why I’ve spent the last 14 years of my life in a notebook.”
Watch Intro (Preface) above, listen to Phone Calls With Ghosts below, and cross paths with Krosst Out on his website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
