In movies like the 80’s classic film, Ghostbusters, and horror films like The Amityville Horror, ghosts are a thing to be feared, an evil presence that haunts and wreaks havoc. In Pack Tactics’ new song, “Apparition,” however, it takes on a comforting connotation, in the wake of suicidal feelings and self-destructive tendencies. “An apparition, I saw my own ghost / But Superstition, it followed me home / so it could feel whole / so it could feel at home.”
It’s a punky number with driving guitars and drums, and vocals recalling modern pop punk acts like Jimmy Eat World. “If I could only find one good reason why / not to throw my only heart on the pyre.” It’s a desperate song with urgency to the words and sound. But there’s a strange comfort in seeing your own spirit. Perhaps it’s a song about man’s eternal search for what happens after we die. The “superstition” of religion and spirituality that brings so many of us comfort.
Its success lies in its open endedness, however, its interpretability. It might be a good song for the Halloween season coming up and would certainly make for an interesting music video. Ghosts have fascinated people for much of human history, but I’ve never thought of seeing “my own ghost.” With its catchy melody and precise instrumentation, it could make a good soundtrack to a movie as well.
In light of suicidal feelings, it could be a comfort that there is still a part of us that wants to stick around, to find a home. To think that our spirit is still fighting for life, while our body wants desperately to leave this planet. In that way, this song is sort of a life-affirming anthem, it seems to me. It’s certainly something that people might want to sing along to, a la Jimmy Eat World. A song that bears repeating.
Prism Reviews 