Never wish an actor “good luck.” Don’t say the name “Macbeth.” Avoid whistling backstage. Leave the mirrors offstage. The theatre superstitions are countless, but perhaps most endearing involves the ghost light, a singular bulb left on after a show is complete and the rest of the place is dark. Aside from its obvious safety function, the ghost light is largely believed to be used for resident ghosts. Some say it keeps the theatre’s spirit tenants away; others see it as a way to light the space for the apparitions, and thus keep them content. It is the latter purpose that seems to make more sense to Toronto-based musician Royal Wood—he welcomes the celestial, embracing the freeing power of the things we don’t quite understand. It’s the inner ghost light that he’s after.
Ghost Light is also the title of Wood’s next album, due out April 22 on MapleMusic Recordings. The first single, “Long Way Out,” is a love song with a steady heartbeat cascading around fleeting guitar riffs and light, melodic echoes. MONTECRISTO is pleased to host the exclusive premiere of the song’s music video, which was filmed in a Toronto studio. Playing off of the ghost light theme, the dark, hazy video begins and ends the same way: with the light of a single bulb (the original ghost light of the O’Keefe Centre, now called the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, in fact).
Like what you hear? Find more music stories.
