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Casey Chandler as Galapaghost; Photo Credit: Elisa Tron
Galapaghost’s new album Pulse was recorded in Italy in just 15 days this past summer. Galapaghost is the solo project of Casey Chandler. He recorded the album with good friend and musical soulmate Federico Puttilli.
Puttilli played electric guitar on Pulse and also engineered and mixed the album. He was very instrumental in helping to create a very gritty feel for the album using different delays on the vocals and various effects on the drums. There was a lot of experimentation with strange things that they never thought would make any sense on a mostly folk rock album, but they did.
Chandler really wanted to push himself far out of his comfort zone on this album and “kill his heroes” so to speak. He was searching to find his own sound and to not try and emulate anybody else because he didn’t see any point in that. It was essential to take huge risks and try out a bunch of different styles he’d never tried before on this album because that was the only way he could feel completely free. He didn’t want to hold back at all since Pulse is sort of his swan song.
This is the fourth Galapaghost album, and after 10 years of trying really hard to “make it”, Chandler hasn’t achieved the success he was hoping for. He wants to have a family soon and doesn’t know how much more money and time he can spend on funding his music career anymore.
Chandler spent his 20’s chasing his dream to be a musician, with zero expectations, but with the hope that at some point he would discover something else along the way to pursue in his life, but never did. All of his frustrations about the world and himself are laid out mostly in the first half of the album and all of his joys come through towards the end, finishing with “Pinerolo”, a reference to the Italian town where he played his very first Galapaghost show with Puttilli, and where he met his wife. Pinerolo is Chandler’s paradise and where he recorded his last three albums.
At the core of Pulse is Chandler’s acceptance of failure and knowing that some of the most beautiful people in his life are there because he wasn’t afraid of failure. It takes courage to do what you love and completely fail at it. It’s easy to fail at what you don’t love.
