Kansas City’s RxGhost treads the uneasy ground between dreamlike indie shoegaze and the more weighty edges of alternative rock and post-rock, conjuring something that feels both ethereal and solidly present. Frontman Josh Thomas, alongside guitarist Jeremiah James, bassist Chris Smead, and drummer Justin Brooks, weaves a complex interplay that’s equal parts contemplation and compulsion.
Their latest track, Sponsored Content, confronts the paradoxical relationship we have with the devices in our hands and the humans at our side. Sponsored Content is buoyed by a shimmering rhythm section, Smead’s energetic bass dancing deftly beneath layered guitars that recall the pop-inflected jangle of The Cure at their most playful and Deerhunter at their most introspective. Yet beneath its bright exterior, the band illuminates darker truths.
Thomas keenly observes that our digital lives are largely constructed around illusions: “So much of what we encounter online is advertising disguised as user-generated content,” he explains. “We’re being sold to constantly, but it’s packaged as authentic experience.” From people sitting in groups, each scrolling on their own devices, he notes that people might be physically present, but their minds roam elsewhere in the digital landscape – and indeed, digital interactions seem to resonate more deeply than flesh-and-blood conversations, underscoring a troubling comfort found in passive, screen-bound existence.
This track doesn’t shy away from confronting the uncomfortable complicity we share in these modern rituals. The band’s ability to juxtapose infectious musicality against such sobering reflections heightens the effect, reminding us of our own participation in digital illusion. Thomas again points to an emotional numbness fostered by screen dependency: “I feel like there’s something about spending most of your life looking at screens that can make you lose empathy,” he says.
The video shows a typical doomscroll session, the visual static that all of us experience mindlessly. It begs the question, how does the constant flow of horror, political theatre, nostalgia, laser-focused advertising, and batshit absurdism affect our minds, our hearts, our souls?
Watch the video for “Sponsored Content” below:
In Sponsored Content, RxGhost issues a spirited yet solemn challenge: a call to acknowledge and perhaps even defy the allure of manufactured authenticity. There’s a sly irony in promoting this critique through the channels it scrutinizes, but therein lies its incisive edge. The track implores us to lift our gaze, to reconnect with the living, breathing presence seated quietly beside us.
Listen to Sponsored Content below and order the track here.
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