Review: Hello Meteor – Said Ghosts

By Cole Sherburne

“𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡, 𝑤𝘩𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔—
𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠”
-𝐶𝘩𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑖

“𝑊𝘩𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝘩𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑡𝘩𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑠𝘩”
-𝑌𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝑇𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑜

Said Ghosts is the 29th album and the 3rd and final installment of the Causality trilogy, arriving a little over three months after his previous album Winter Office Hours. This trilogy acts as a bridge between the pre-Jaladri and Jaladri albums and tells the story of a group of travelers on their voyage to the planet Jaladri. The first album in this trilogy was released over seven years ago. The seven years between these albums is not just a real world factor but also canonically how long it takes to travel to Jaladri. It’s the little details like this that I really appreciate. The album opens with Talking Skies and it stands as one of my favorite openings to any Hello Meteor album. We are greeted by a voice stating that we have arrived at the Jaladri planetary system. As the ship enters the planet’s atmosphere, we hear the alarm sounding off and the rumble and roar of the ship. It gives the album a cinematic feeling that immersed me and I could picture myself in the ship alongside the other passengers. I get goosebumps every time I listen to this track. Then there is Egression Protocol with its cozy synths and steady drum patterns that gives me the feeling of floating through the air. Ballistic Terra comes in with a fast and pulsing drum beat as well as robotic synth patches that remind me of the kind of music you would hear in a 90’s PC game. Then just to throw you for a loop it adds a smooth jazzy switch up at the end. Then comes Causality Violation, which is also a reference to the first album in the trilogy, where we learn that there was a spatial anomaly that disrupted the ship midway through its journey. Weird Dreams Last Night (Cryosleep Hangover) features distorted synths drenched in reverb which perfectly conveys the hangover feeling. Graphite as a Color begins with a darker tone and some robotic synths before some fast paced percussion comes in. We then are greeted with some brighter synths that give the track a more uplifting tone and a feeling of excitement as we finally land on Jaladri. Different Weather Here feels lush and atmospheric as we take in the sounds of the city of New Cascade and the new environment of Jaladri. We hear the sound of rain falling as synths drenched in reverb drone in the background. Said Ghosts is not only my favorite album in the causality trilogy, it is also one of my favorite Hello Meteor albums in general. Hello Meteor is one of the few artists in this world who can do both quantity and quality. To have released almost 30 albums and 7 EPs in just 10 years is an incredible achievement. It’s easy to see that he has been planning this out for a long time and with Said Ghosts it’s clear now more than ever that everything is truly connected. This album is a true masterpiece. Every song is richly textured and perfectly mixed. The melodies are mesmerizing and the atmosphere is simply incredible. Hello Meteor’s music brings people together in ways few things can. For years we have been exploring the planet of Jaladri album by album. However, it is only now that I feel like I have truly arrived in Jaladri. Many questions have been answered but so many more still remain. This has been an incredible first decade of music and I can’t wait to see where we go next in the story of Jaladri. Here’s to the next ten years of Hello Meteor.

Score: 9/10