Ghostpoet

Ghostpoet, a British vocalist, songwriter, and musician, crafts work steeped in a brooding unease. Since emerging in the late 2000s, he has issued the Mercury Prize-nominated Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam (2011) and Shedding Skin (2015), the U.K. Top 40 release Dark Days + Canapés (2017), and I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep (2020).

Obaro Ejimiwe, who records as Ghostpoet, first connected with music during his university years. After participating in a grime collective, he shifted toward a subdued approach to production and MC'ing, which surfaced on the self-released 2010 EP The Sound of Strangers, a four-track set that reached BBC DJ Gilles Peterson. Peterson then secured the EP for his Brownswood imprint and included a demo of the track "Liines" on the sixth Brownswood Bubblers compilation that November. Brownswood followed with the February release of Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam, Ghostpoet's debut full-length and a Mercury Prize nominee. A quick partnership with Play It Again Sam produced Some Say I So I Say Light in 2013, featuring contributions from Tony Allen, Lucy Rose, and This Heat's Charles Hayward. Shedding Skin arrived in 2015 as a clear departure, incorporating greater guitar presence, a full band on most tracks, and a guest spot from Maxïmo Park's Paul Smith, yet it earned the artist's second Mercury Prize nomination. After contributing to Massive Attack's "Come Near Me," Ghostpoet finished his fourth album, Dark Days + Canapés, which surfaced in 2017 behind the single "Immigrant Boogie" and peaked at number 39 on the U.K. album chart. Three years afterward came I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep.