Last time I encountered Dryadic, they were waxing lyrical about the simple pleasures of good times spent in good company, the joy of being alive, and walking in the footsteps of our ancestors through our ancient countryside.
“Ghosts,” as the name perhaps suggests, sees them in a deeper, more contemplative mood. This simpler, piano-led piece, further adorned by a graceful yet mournful violin, talks of the battle to feel that you are enough, enough for this world, enough for others, but more importantly, enough for yourself.
It talks of the battles we have with the ghost voices that inhabit our heads, haunting us with self-doubt, born of our own insecurities, but also of the voices we inherit from our families and traditions and society, those expectations of others that we feel compelled to meet.
And as the song finally sonically explodes, as beats fall into line, bass pulses along and stacatto strings propel, an exhorcism is enacted and those doubts and dellusions which make us want to live our lives as others would have us, are laid to rest, freeing us to be ourselves, and not just ourselves but the version of ourself that we, and only we, have chosen.
Dryadic has always had a way with the more upbeat and celebratory, the sing-along, and the humorous, but “Ghosts” shows that there are many sides to the band —and to Zora McDonald’s songwriting, and certainly a side that is deeply philosophical and wonderfully soul-searching. Modern music needs more of that sort of thing.
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