Music For Ghosts is a solo piano-led project, composed and performed by me, Sam Crawley.
Most tracks are instrumental.
Some tracks have vocals.
Lyrics were written either by me or by Stephanie Lam.
All tracks were recorded after the deaths of my parents in 2023 and 2025.
©SAM CRAWLEY
It fits in harmony with Grief and Freedom, my parallel photography project.
©SAM CRAWLEY
Most tracks were recorded at St Anne’s Church, Lewes.
Some were recorded at The Lookout, Peacehaven, with Andy Barlow of Lamb.
One track, The Machine Has Taken My Family / This Is Not A Game, was recorded at Ocean Studios, west Cork, Ireland, with Wayne Sheehy.
Although the recordings were made recently, the tracks themselves were written at different periods over the years.
They are all minimalist, evocative, and haunting.They leave space for the listener.
Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman has called my music ‘beautiful, simple yet unusual, polished.’
However, for many years I was unable to play or listen to music.
I was unable to bear sounds or bright lights.
I spent those years at home, in bed, in pain.
I thought my life was over.
Music For Ghosts documents the suffering I experienced, mediated through the instrument I love and can now play once more, the piano.
It also tracks my grief at missing out on lost years, and at recovering only to feel out of place in a world that struggles with what loss really means.
©SAM CRAWLEY
©SAM CRAWLEY