The trope of multi-instrumentalist dude and ghostly-voiced girl is a familiar one in dreampop – some might want to use the word cliche – but there’s a reason it persists; when it hits, it hits just right. Slow Salvation score pretty high on both precision and accuracy, with Nashville’s Travis Trevisan (formerly of Tape Deck Mountain) sculpting slow, reverberant soundcapes and New Jersey’s Christina Hernandez (who released music as Orion Lake before reincarnating as Eveningbird) hovering overtop, suspended by her voice. There’s nothing that visitors to this particular sonic realm haven’t heard before, but there’s a reason we keep returning.
Their debut album Here We Lie came out in 2023 and the follow-up Gemini was released this past May. They’ve got no shortage of videos (sorry, lyric videos) on offer – I guess as a remote work situation that doesn’t play live shows, you need to direct those marketing energies somewhere – but I’ve chosen a non-album single from last November as an introduction because it’s seasonal, and sounds as on-brand as anything else they’ve done.
They talked about the single with Blank Mood when it was released:
“The Ghost of Last Christmas” – what was the inspiration behind writing a Christmas song? It’s absolutely lovely.
“The Ghost of Last Christmas” is a very personal song for me. I left California over 10 years ago, moving to New York and then eventually wound up in Nashville, Tennessee. Every year until she passed, my grandmother would call me and ask, ‘Are you coming home for Christmas?’ That simple phrase stuck with me, and it became the inspiration for the chorus. I wanted to capture that bittersweet feeling of longing and nostalgia that often surrounds the holidays with family.
There aren’t a lot of options for Christmas songs that avoid the typical cheesiness, so I set out to make something that could contribute to the Christmas canon—something with depth and a dreamy atmosphere for the dream pop and shoegaze fans who celebrate the season.
Can you tell us something about the cover art / photo of the single?
The cover art for the single was originally a photo taken by Juliane Monari, a photographer based in São Paulo, Brazil. I actually discovered it on a stock photography site, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it perfectly captured the vibe and theme of the song. There was something about its mood and composition that felt just right. I did add a few subtle touches—like snowflakes and some winter elements—to give it that nostalgic, wintry feel and tie it more closely to the holiday spirit of the track.
Q&A with Slow Salvation @ Blank Mood
And they did another interview with the same outlet this Summer, after Gemini’s release.
Gemini by Slow Salvation @ Blank Mood
