Released October 2009, actor Ryan Gosling’s short-lived musical endeavor still haunts listeners — and maybe Gosling.
Released October 2009, actor Ryan Gosling’s short-lived musical endeavor still haunts listeners — and maybe Gosling.
Before he was “just Ken” or dancing through “La La Land,” Oscar-winning actor Ryan Gosling’s musical journey was defined by a brief, buried passion project — “Dead Man’s Bones.”
Formed in 2005, Dead Man’s Bones was the recording project of film producer Zach Shields and Gosling. Planned as a rock opera about a ghost love story, rising costs morphed the project into their titular album, released October 2009.
The aptly titled “Intro” beckons listeners with a spoken-word invocation as cold winds swirl around the Madame Leota-like narrator, voiced by Shareeka Epps. “Intro” acts more as an atmospheric tease than a meaningful statement as the narrator rarely returns nor do her words amount to anything.
“My suitcase is packed / With all your heartbeats / So I walk to their sound / And head towards the sun,” Epps says.
As the numbing whirls of wind dissipate, “Dead Hearts” fades in. The tranquil opening unravels into a haunting crescendo of choirs and percussion as an ever-tightening heartbeat overtakes the melody.
With a five-minute runtime, “Dead Hearts” only offers two verses that seamlessly introduce the record’s central ghost story while holding the listener’s attention through distinctive gospel-rock flair.
The ensuing “In The Room Where You Sleep” delivers a dose of auditory whiplash as an 80s pop-rock jolt cuts through the album’s gloom. It plays more like a traditional Halloween anthem, akin to the campy, vintage monster-tinged music of 80s psychobilly band The Cramps.
A spoken-word finale by Gosling plays out the track.
“There’s something in the shadows / In the corner of your room / A dark heart is beating / Waiting for you,” Gosling says.
The remainder of the album features the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir, adding a unique, otherworldly texture to the haunting ballads of “My Body’s a Zombie For You” and “Young & Tragic.”
In another genre change, “Paper Ships” sets sail into fabloo rock caprice akin to Tally Hall’s 2005 release “Hidden In the Sand.”
The lax instrumentation allows Gosling’s songwriting to take center stage. While most of the record uses repetition and simple melodic phrasing to instill memorability, “Paper Ships” leans on narrative charm and tonal playfulness instead.
“Birds are in the sky / The land’s been gone for days / All you left was time / To find a solid grave,” Gosling sings.
Despite being the titular track, the penultimate song is a lowlight on the soul-stirring record.
While the previous, more prosaic lyrics suit the tracks they accompany, Gosling’s inflection here comes off as pretentious — an affected attempt at sounding seductive.
“Flowers Grow Out of My Grave” closes the album with a softly spoken poem that bleeds into daunting chants of the children’s choir.
“Dead Man’s Bones” stands as a strange, spectral artifact in Gosling and Shields’ career. It’s imperfect and often inconsistent, but the unevenness becomes part of its charm — a childlike exploration of death, love and the uncanny.
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