High Harmonies And Twin 12-Strings Give Grief A Communal Voice
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RISE direct their melodic rock towards a deeply personal absence on “Talking To Your Ghost Again”
. The Liverpool four-piece bring the energy of their guitar-and-synth sound to a song about loss, holding on to an uplifting impulse even as the subject draws them inward. The title suggests a conversation that cannot quite end, giving the music a sense of connection as well as grief.
The song was shaped by the death of original singer Steve Kinley, who died of cancer in 2022. Written by his twin brother Paul, it carries the weight of a family relationship and a shared musical life. Paul describes it as “a song for those who knew Ste”, a dedication that locates the writing among people with memories of their own. The band took time to find the right feeling for material so close to home.
stayMellow’s vocal sits at the centre of that process. The harmonies were deliberately mixed high, keeping their expression prominent within the arrangement. It is a revealing production choice: the voices remain part of the song’s outward movement rather than withdrawing into the background. Brian Petch and stayMellow also share twin 12-string guitar parts, bringing a layered guitar texture to a track that draws more heavily on RISE’s progressive rock influences. Those overlapping voices and strings give a communal dimension to a song rooted in one person’s loss.
Recorded at Whitewood Studios in Liverpool, the single was produced by Rob Whiteley and Paul Kinley. Their working relationship reaches back several years, and Paul values Whiteley’s attention to the band’s established character, calling him “a man of detail”. That continuity matters here. RISE’s blend of melodic hooks, keyboards and guitars remains the framework, with Paul on keyboards and backing vocals, Alex Mahoney on drums, Brian on guitar, and Sam Kinley, known as stayMellow, on bass and vocals. The difficult subject enters a musical language built through years of playing together.
The accompanying video brings the recording process into view, combining studio footage with lyric animation by Matt at Lodge Productions. Alongside the song’s private dedication, those images offer a glimpse of the collective work involved in giving it form: musicians in a room, making something that can carry beyond it.
“Talking To Your Ghost Again”
keeps that connection open. Its uplifting intention does not resolve the loss that prompted it; it gives the band a way to continue speaking about someone whose absence remains part of their lives. For RISE, the tribute takes shape in the act of playing together.
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