ALBUM REVIEW : +375 by Haunted By People

+375 album artwork.
[image from : Haunted By People]

Haunted By People explores the effects of past and present relationships in new album +375. 

Starting university is one of the most notorious periods of transition in a young person's life. Along with its academic challenges and abrupt new way of living, post-secondary education also surrounds you with a completely new group of people, and forces you to suddenly leave those you once knew. In his new album, Haunted By People—the project of 21-year-old Matt Foti—illustrates the process of people coming into and out of your life as being haunted by ghosts, and reflects on the effects that this haunting can have. Written throughout Foti's time in university, +375 (released 7 September 2020) uses a warm, confessional folk to tell stories of adapting to change, learning to be honest, and growing as a person.

Throughout the album, the theme of feeling haunted is evidently clear, especially on the contemplative track, "Boxes." Here, Foti lists a series of conventional life events, from weddings to funerals, and emphasizes the effect that growing up in the suburbs can have on the expectations we set for our lives, and how these expectations can follow us around like ghosts. But not all of the ghosts that live on this album bring bad memories, as songs like "U.F.O.s" have Foti reminisce on sweetly revealing to another, "You're out of this world." Others like "All Alone" create a complicated kind of dichotomy between both the positive and negative aspects of a relationship, as Foti admits that "I'll be okay if you hold my hand," while also having to come to the realization that "If you can't love me I'll understand."

Opening track "Driver's License" also details a sense of feeling haunted by versions of yourself, or rather haunted by the many things that others expect of you, as Foti confesses, "You're killing me with all these things you want me to be / When all I am is me." And while +375 is haunted by the ghosts of people Foti knows and has known, he also distinctly conveys a desire for discovering who he is outside of these relationships.

Over the course of this collection of songs, Foti's voice takes on a quality of being able to sound like how it feels to have someone open up to you, and to have those quintessential deep conversations. The warm acoustic guitar gives the album a sense of familiarity and comfortability, while the vocal melodies add a vulnerability that begs to be heard. Foti also frequently makes use of voicemails, recorded conversations, and spoken word, on songs like "Lullaby" and "Interlude," which fosters the conversational, genuine way in which he handles these themes.

After being followed around by ghosts of his past and present for 13 tracks, Haunted By People finds that while these relationships have been both good and bad, they each become a little part of who you are, and they will help you in the continuous process of self-discovery. 

Listen to +375 by Haunted By People on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Haunted By People · +375