Confronting The Ghost with Charlyne Yi & Lem Jay
We’ve talked about music being written as a process of therapy before. Great music can be made as a point of working through something personal to the artist, but which the listener might also relate to as well. For a lot of people, this music might not see a release due to its intimate nature, but then sometimes it does, and you get an utterly majickal collection of songs. This is Charlyne Yi & Lem Jay’s album called ‘The Ghost’.
Lem Jay Ignacio and Charlyne Yi.
Television and film actress/comedian Charlyne Yi has appeared in the Judd Apatow directed films ‘Knocked Up’ (2007) and ‘This Is 40’ (2012). Yi co-wrote, produced and starred in ‘Paper Heart’ with Michael Cera, released in 2009, and appeared as a main cast member in the final season of ‘House, M.D.’ between 2011 and 2012. Her voice-acting work includes ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ (2017), TV series and movie ‘Steven Universe’, and ‘Trolls World Tour’ in 2020. Charlyne Yi has released books entitled ‘Oh The Moon (stories from the Tortured Mind of) Charlyne Yi’ in 2015 and ‘You Can’t Kill Me Twice (so please treat me right)’ in 2019.
Yi’s solo musical endeavours include collections of demos uploaded to her own Bandcamp page, and her album ‘Open Your Heart’ released on digital and vinyl in 2019. Charlyne Yi’s creativity also extends to painting and animating, of which a vast array can be viewed on her official website and on Instagram @illustratednudies.
Composer and keyboardist Lem Jay Ignacio has created music for global brands such as Nintendo, Nike, Honda, Mini Cooper and MTV. He has written the music for short film ‘Lovebirds’, released in 2017 which also features Charlyne Yi. Ignacio has jumped on stage with Zooey Deschanel, and worked with Moby, Sam Shelton and Alison Sudol.
Lem Jay is one half of musical duo The Shoe with Jena Malone, who together have released an EP in 2008 – ‘At Lem Jay’s Garage’ and an album in 2014 entitled ‘I’m Okay’. The duo have since played across the US, in São Paulo, Brazil and London, England in hotels, street corners and public spaces. Lem Jay’s music can also be heard in LA’s Hammer Museum in a coat closet, and on the street playing out from an ice cream truck. Current whereabouts of the truck are unknown.
Charlyne Yi & Lem Jay’s loose musical musings can be found littered across the latter’s Instagram account in momentary videos and photographs. These range from socially distanced music made during the pandemic to piano covers and improvised living room musicals. Lem Jay also adds soundtrack flair to Charlyne’s animation and storytelling on her YouTube account. The eleven songs that make up ‘The Ghost’ were written and recorded over an eight-year period and were finally released to the public in May 2021.
An unconventional drum machine sound brings in the comforting tones of Lem Jay’s keyboard playing with warm acoustic guitars. ‘She came unprepared, she carried so many lives inside her tangled silver hair…’ One of many revelations about this album is hearing Charlyne and Lem Jay singing together, whose voices intertwine so beautifully, a perfect compliment of their individual tones in a sound that forms the backbone of this record.
As well as this, ‘Stroll’ features brass layers, a piano solo, and a choir that elevates the chorus, but isn’t afraid to come down too with the quieter moments. ‘Take a stroll, through the waterways, I would be so honoured to be there…’ On my very first listen of this album, my immediate joy at this combination of sounds was more than enough to know that I’d found something I’d want to hear again and again.
‘Poison Love’ is driven by its beat, created with acoustic drums, percussion, and accented electric guitar chords. Lyrically, Poison Love seems to explore the feelings of a love/hate relationship, and how torn that can leave people: ‘I don’t want to play this part, tried to hold you, you’ve gone too far. Maybe I need someone to stay, stay with me. Oh, I don’t want to feel all alone, like it’s over…’ Lem Jay’s keyboard playing utilises soft organ chords held in the verses, and as this builds up, the beat morphs into a march before returning to the introductory sounds. Later, Ignacio adds a trebly layer reminiscent of a harpsichord and the warble of something spookier.
‘We Don’t Know How To Move On’ is led by a waltz, made up of piano, percussion, and perhaps even a more buried stringed instrument like ukulele. This song is largely a Charlyne Yi lead vocal, though there are additional backing vocal layers with Lem Jay’s voice, plus the more expansive choir elements as heard on ‘Stroll’. As the track progresses, more instrumentation can be heard like accordion, woodwind and extra keyboard layers. Yi created an animated video for an edited version of this song entitled ‘Move On’ in the same style as the album’s cover-art.
‘Though I Know’ has a different sound than the rest of The Ghost so far, featuring only atmospheric keyboards and a return to the duo’s harmonious vocal play. ‘Though I know I must go, I can’t say goodbye to myself…’ The emotion in both Charlyne and Lem Jay’s voices struck me from my first listen, which is exemplified by the lack of other instrumentation and the final line: ‘You’re better off, make me see…’
‘Rest Your Eyes’ returns to a waltz, but without using the same sounds that make up ‘Move On’ - a buzz of synthesizer introduces drum machine and acoustic stringed instruments. The harmonies of Yi and Ignacio float above these sounds like the organ and keyboards used in previous songs, it would be more than a minute before this melancholic scene-setting gives way to the lyric.
‘Rest your eyes, we will learn to meet again on the hill not far from where we stand.’
Some of my favourite sounds on Rest Your Eyes include the harp and tuned percussion as they run up and down their notes. Somewhere in the distance is the eerie sound of a bowed stringed instrument which towards the end pulls me out of the dreamy state the vocal harmonies lull me in. This song is a strong contender for a second Charlyne Yi animation.
In a stroke of album sequencing genius, the playful ‘Jenny’ returns the mood to something that resembles the fun the duo express in their behind-the-scenes photography. Lem Jay’s electric piano sets the tone, with handclaps and other percussion bringing in the lyric: ‘Jenny won’t you come back to me, and I can make you happy.’ I particularly love the call and response between Charlyne and Lem Jay of ‘Jenny come back’. In a video released on Yi’s YouTube channel, their performance is a demonstration of the loose nature of their collaboration.
A fat synth sound announces the arrival of the title track, backed by percussion and a gelling of acoustic and electronic drums. The harmonised vocal line: ‘I want somebody to grow young and old’ is the song’s chorus, which is broken up by spoken verses from the duo, first by Lem Jay.
‘We come on this fateful day, to a time the spark, it fell, but then we swayed. And like all the years before, this silent love, it never played, it never scored. He took her hand, he took my sign, this talking Ghost was known for trying. Hotter than humankind, hotter than those whose love, whose love has died. So you don’t get the girl, we don’t get the end, it’s everything except the spark, the crush, the point was not to just be friends. I don’t just wanna be friends.’
It’s interesting to hear this dramatic reading from Ignacio, the first half of a story told from two points of view. Yi’s verse is equally as good, with the soundtrack helping to propel the narrative forward in a pace that let’s the respective narrators decide the intensity of their own reading. The latter’s own telling demonstrates this well:
‘It’s not everyday my heart comes to play, with a love and a friend and a life to spend. I don’t want our love to die, I don’t want it to fade away, I want our love to grow, to see a better day when the sun is rising and we both aren’t crying, because we can break through any wall or concrete mind. We can plant seeds, we can slow down time, because our love is meant to be young, dumb, and wise, and I wanna know it’s safe to look in your eyes without a Ghost, because congratulations never meant nothing. It means nothing(!) without someone to feel, and I am poisoned by fear, I don’t wanna live as lovers, don’t want Ghosts to appear. I don’t want to plant a tombstone on my breaking chest. I just want you to love me now, so we both can rest.’
I can entirely imagine the possibility that ‘The Ghost’ was conceived as part of the duo’s theatrical exploration, and then refined and delivered with musical cues taken from this instrumental. Despite this song focusing less on the musical and melodic prowess as shown elsewhere on this album, the title track remains one of my favourite pieces on ‘The Ghost’. This is based on the story Charlyne and Lem Jay tell, and the unique way in which they tell it.
The vaudeville sound of the album’s earlier songs is back with ‘In The Night’, which opens with a Lem Jay vocal and makes use of the familiar array of percussion and piano. A story of a pillow’s night-time wanderings is the topic for one of The Ghost’s more cute numbers. Brass is also back too, where a trombone solo takes centre-stage above the jangle of sleighbells. In The Night is another contender for a Charlyne Yi animated adventure.
The duo take the mood and the pace down as slide guitar brings in ‘Nobody But Me’. Lem Jay sings lead and voices one of my favourite lines from the whole record in; ‘Lost all my teeth, and I don’t feel so pretty, but I can whistle like gold.’ There’s a touch of humour there as a tuneful whistle follows. Initially I thought this song was about growing old, but I’m inclined to believe it’s about being homeless. This is my favourite Lem Jay vocal performance across the album.
Alternate cover-art for ‘The Ghost’.
The music for ‘Wine Song’ sounds more produced than some of the other compositions on this album, by that I mean the music would sit well broadcast on radio. The keyboards lean towards the synthesized and the tighter drum performance sounds programmed, but that isn’t to say it sounds out of place on The Ghost. Where Charlyne Yi’s vocal presence was absent in Nobody But Me, she gives one of her most heartfelt performances on Wine Song, singing solo for the most part and reaching further in her range than usual.
Though much of The Ghost surrounds relationship discourse, this lyric has the raw edge that takes the listener through the emotions the lyricists are experiencing at the time. The all-encompassing lines of ‘Drink, drink my wine’ sung by the duo’s modest choir as well as the chorus are musical phrases that stay with you beyond the song’s conclusion. If I could quote the entire lyric to this track, I would. But these are some of my favourite lines:
‘If you push me, I’ll push you back, if you cry I’ll start to blab. Drink my tears, drink my tears, drink up all my finest years.’
The closing statement of The Ghost comes in the form of ‘Survival’, an uplifting lyric delivered in a somewhat downtempo way. ‘Everything will be just fine, fighting demons in our mind, hand-in-hand we can learn to try. Nothing’s gonna tear us down, don’t wanna give up now…’ Drums peek softly through with brushes, and the reedy sound of melodica runs through this track at times like a gentle river. Lem Jay’s touch at the piano is light, but stands out between the lyric. The jazzy feel is heightened with woodwinds and what sounds like upright bass, with the whole song underpinned by cleanly strummed electric guitar. The mostly comforting lyric concludes unfinished, bringing The Ghost to an ominous end:
‘Nothing’s gonna tear us down. Don’t wanna give up now. Never gonna be afraid of knowing there’s an end. Never gonna be afraid of-’
Continue reading for our Q&A with Charlyne Yi and Lem Jay Ignacio. We ask about the length of time it took to make The Ghost, as well as the duo’s writing and recording habits, how they met, and the identity of ‘Jenny’. All this and more below.
1. Your debut album together, 'The Ghost' was made over the course of eight years. Were these songs always destined to be released as an album?
Charlyne Yi: We wrote songs the same way someone cries into a pillow. It had to be done, and we didn't anticipate wringing that pillow out into a perfume bottle, and asking people to take a whiff.
2. Describe the typical process of working on a song. Does a track go from being written to recorded in the same day? Or does the timeline stretch much further?
Lem Jay Ignacio: We’d write a song or most of it in a day, then record it over the course of many. We spent time trying different things, like she’d be playing the drums and get frustrated and say you play, then I’d play and get frustrated and say no you do it! Some tracks came easily and some made our faces wrinkle.
Charlyne: That’s how we got so old.
3. Besides yourselves, who else is playing on this record?
Charlyne: Jordan Katz played trombone, trumpet. Becky Stark and Sam Shelton sang in the choir.
4. What is the oldest recorded song on 'The Ghost'? Which is the most recent?
Lem Jay: The first song we wrote and recorded was Move On, but not the version you hear on our album. It was the first time Charlyne came to my house to write. I remember we were kinda shy and she was playing a floor tom drum with mallets and I was playing my unfashionable Yamaha DX27S keyboard.
Charlyne: The most recent song is Wine Song which was us trying to emulate the music group Exposé.
5. How did you two meet originally? At what point did you decide to try making music together?
Charlyne: We met working on a play for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater with Becky Stark. Sometimes we would play with Lem Jay’s son with nerf guns, painting, etc... And after that sometimes talking about our problems seemed impossible, and when that happened we were left with no other choice but to sing it out -- like a musical. So that’s what we did. We made songs to outlet our sorrows.
6. 'Though I Know' is a heartbreaking listen, what inspired that song?
Charlyne: None of your goddamn business. Just kidding. The song is about a well-needed break up that two of the band members were going through.
Lem Jay: Charlyne loves choirs. I think we set out to write a sort of 4-track choir song with us just singing. There are so many chords in it, the chord progression is kinda complex, like sadness. It gave us a headache after we wrote it, so we took a lunch break at our favorite spot in Los Angeles, Sqirl.
Charlyne: Do you think mentioning Sqirl gets us a free meal? Sqirl, Sqirl, Sqirl. We just got 5 free meals.
7. 'Jenny' is an all too fleeting experience, who is Jenny?
Lem Jay: Jenny is a good friend of ours. She likes to talk about life and the universe. She used to live in L.A. and then moved to Chicago. We missed her and wrote that song for her.
8. Would you like to see 'The Ghost' released on physical media? Do you think physical albums still have a place in the music listening experience?
Lem Jay: We released it on Bandcamp because most people listen to music online. We once said if we released something on vinyl we’d make the artwork really really small and then include a magnifying glass so you could see it.
9. I think a lot of people could relate to 'Wine Song'. What are your preferred choices of wine?
Lem Jay: I like red wine that’s velvety and surprising. I love wine. I don’t like tears as much.
Charlyne: I like blue Gatorade mixed with month old opened wine, a hint of hot cola cooked in my car, and a sprinkle of hot cheeto dust.
10. Was there any leftover material after 'The Ghost' was compiled? Could there be a second volume?
Lem Jay: There were leftovers. Maybe not a second volume, but definitely another album. We have an unfinished electro-pop song about loneliness that starts "Let’s pretend we’re superstars, you’re so L.A. and I’m so Mars”.
Charlyne: I think the hook is, “I'd rather be alone than lonely with you.” Sometimes our songs are half jokes, but the joke is on us because of how real they are.
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Purchase a digital copy of Charlyne Yi & Lem Jay’s ‘The Ghost’ on their Bandcamp page.
Follow Charlyne Yi & Lem Jay on Instagram @charlyne_yi and @lemjayig.
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