Ghost Against Ghost
Atmospheric Experimental Rock Project
Ghost Against Ghost is the post-everything electronic-rock concept and moniker of producer/composer Christopher Bono. Inspired by conceptual, progressive, post and psychedelic rock; art-rock; ambient, experimental, classical music (contemporary and common-practice); the anarchic concepts of late Leo Tolstoy; dystopian epics; and neo-romanticism, Bono founded Ghost Against Ghost in 2008 after he began work on an as yet unfinished two-hour concept album that he envisioned in a dream one night in Brooklyn.
To bring the vision to life, Bono assembled a group of electro-acoustic musicians and began performing in New York City & Brooklyn. Within a short time, Ghost Against Ghost became known for their long, multi-media shows featuring “song-oriented-but-stylistically-out-there” forms alternated with open noise, electronic and ambient improvisations.
As Bono began preparations for the first Ghost Against Ghost album in 2008, he became increasingly unsatisfied with the infant sound of Ghost Against Ghost. Haunted by continuous visions and auditory hallucinations that demanded he dig deeper, Bono was driven into seven years of near-hermetic isolation as he struggled to develop the technical foundation necessary to bring forth these internal messages.Compelled by the cacophony within, Bono began imagining a sonic landscape different from anything he had encountered. This journey led him to unexpectedly study classical music at the late and unusual age of 27 in search of answers.
“I could see the sounds, like a massive and extraordinarily complex piece of architecture, or some sort of alien, psychic sculpture, but I did not know how to realize it technically. … Until I heard Stravinsky.” -Bono
Under the tutelage of classical composers such as Stravinsky and Bach and various contemporary composers, Bono began to find answers to the riddle of the Ghost Against Ghost sound.;
Over the course of 5 years, Bono released two full classical albums and an EP to critical acclaim. Between these projects, commissions, and commitments, Bono secretly chiseled away on the Ghost Against Ghost material. Finally, after finishing his last album, BARDO, Bono was once more ready to devote his full attention to the insistent call of Ghost Against Ghost. After years of searching and study in isolation within the classical and experimental music fields, Bono had discovered the melodic and rhythmic movement, structure and development he needed to understand to implement Ghost Against Ghost in a current context; the result is an interwoven, wild, sonic tapestry, fused by his knowledge of modern studio production, mixing, engineering and electronics.
The first official Ghost Against Ghost release was the epic 15 min work, Checkpoint Charlie. The album was accompanied by an award winning music video by film maker Craig Murray.See it HERE.
The first full length Ghost Against Ghost album, still love was released in April, 2017. The album received positive reception including:
"Cathartic soul-bearing space prog masterwork." -- Prog Magazine
"Still Love is a mighty work of art that juxtaposes pop-sensitivity with an intense
listening experience." - Arctic Drones
“Evokes a wide array of inspirations to create a vast and intense field of sounds.
Bono constructs a darkly spiritual aura in this post-rock inspired composition." -Stereogum
"Ghost Against Ghost's New Song "Resume" Is A Slow-Moving, Cinematic Destroyer" -Metal Injection
The track Unarm from the still love album also was accompanied by a music video by the visionary film maker Craig Murray.
In 2018 a new single Todeserfahrung was released. Currently, Christopher is back in the studio working on a new conceptual Ghost Against Ghost album slated for a 2020 release.