Exclusive Track Premiere: ‘Didn’t I Fade,’ Handsome Ghost

ABOVE: TIM NOYES. PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL SILBERT. 

As a high school English teacher turned full-time musician, Tim Noyes knows a thing or two about bold risks. The Boston native singer-songwriter allowed passion to take precedence over security when he strayed from his stable career path to develop his ambient music project, Handsome Ghost. It was this spontaneous spirit that led him to a summer of adventure in New York, during which he and a friend rented an apartment and lived two straight months as though they would be their last.

It was this fearless New York summer that led to Handsome Ghost’s latest track, “Didn’t I Fade,” which premieres exclusively below. The track seeks to remind us—through both its lyrics and its musicality—of our own ephemeral nature. Noyes speaks to this, and describes it as “a song about doing something incredible, something important, something lasting … and then just disappearing.” In this way, the track is simultaneously uplifting and heavyhearted; it recognizes life’s potential and purpose, and that we cannot exist for long. This is further instilled through its dreamy instrumentals and futuristic beats.

“Didn’t I Fade” hails from Handsome Ghost’s forthcoming EP, The Brilliant Glow (Photo Finish Records), and is one of the first demos that Noyes created when forming the EP. Consequently, Noyes has evolved both personally and musically since the song’s inception, but he still holds the material close: “It reminds me why I love to write, and why I choose to live this absurd, wonderful life. There is nothing calculated about ‘Didn’t I Fade.’ There is nothing measured or reasoned. It’s a raw, emotional song and it’s of the utmost importance to me that I never stop writing raw, emotional songs.”

THE BRILLIANT GLOW WILL BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 VIA PHOTO FINISH RECORDS. HANDSOME GHOST IS SUPPORTING MELANIE MARTINEZ ON A U.S. TOUR THIS FALL. FOR MORE ON HANDSOME GHOST, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.