Content warning for a depiction of implied sexual assault.
On Feb. 14, 2025, venturing, the alternative rock output of multi-genre and prolific artist Jane Remover, released the 50-minute “Ghostholding” to fans’ elation. This precedes Jane’s upcoming project “Revengeseekerz.”
The album begins with “Play my guitar,” a relatively laid-back way to set the mood for the album. It’s reminiscent of the slowcore band Duster, while “No sleep” sounds like the experimental rock band Unwound or alternative rock band Pavement.
The bass on “Believe” sounds like alternative pop artist and bassist’s Thundercat’s style. The lyrics play with the concept of Christianity, with Jane singing lyrics like “I saw God in your arms,” “Jesus don’t like bitches,” “Did you see God when you say you felt lucky lately?” “It’s not much faith that you have ‘cause it’s suffocating,” and the incredibly blunt and striking “Fuck about praying, I just wanna see you naked.”
“Spider” starts off very sensually and is where the album picks up, starting with the poetic lyrics “He sweats through all of his clothes, he forces himself to sleep and only thinks of me, it seems like nobody knows about this new kind of free, where I am the only girl.” The instrumentation is foreboding, exacerbated by the discordant electronic beeps when the song picks up.
The second half of the song addresses the imagery of waves crashing, saying that Jane’s love interest is crashing onto her with the power of a thousand waves. The element of sexual obsession and the generally scary sound of the song reminds me of “Reptile” by industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails yet is toned down quite a bit with its own representation of unhealthy sex. “Reptile” could be an alternate timeline where the situation got worse, and the people involved didn’t heal.
“Recoil” is pretty upbeat sonically, all things considered. Jane sings, “I don’t wanna be famous anymore.” Jane’s single “JRJRJR” details her gripes with her newfound fame and how dehumanizing it can be. “If I ever end up with a broken heart, baby, just say my name, I promise you’re not insane,” Jane continues. This lyric in particular stuck out because of the element of being insane. The song breaks down and loses the upbeat sound at the end.
“Dead forever” starts with the lyric “He thinks with his dick, you think with your heart.” This could be indicative of a relationship ruined by horniness and Jane finding someone more sincere, someone who loves her brain and not just her body. The chorus sounds absolutely gorgeous with Jane’s singing meshing extremely well with the electric guitar. The drums are also well done. “He’s loaded at the bar and herds the boys like sheep, he goes to war, don’t let him near someone like me”
There is a pretty concerning lyric in this song, though: “Those boys, they spiked my drink, our secret’s safe with me.” That lyric paired with the final verse and the interjections in between the lyrics made me realize that this song might be about sexual exploitation and the fear of it.
“We don’t exist” has absolute gems of lines such as “If I’m a psychopath, then who are you for knowing that?” and “You were right, I’m the type to rewrite history.” Bitter breakups can lead to introspection and eventually, ideally, healing.
“Sick / relapse” begins with a garbled-up text-to-speech sound or something equivalent to that. “We act like the walls are paper thin” is a striking lyric. “I feel crazy for loving you so” shows the fine line that many tread between love and obsession. “Hold your ghost, say it in my ear, how close?” is cryptic.
“Famous girl” has a beautiful melody paired with some hedonistic lyrics. Take the first lyric of the song that sets the scene: “Speedin’ on I-15 and talkin’ on the phone, I love my rich friends who take me everywhere, I smell like his cologne and how he treats his home.” It’s a great song that’s fun to listen to.
“Halloween” puts the instrumentation front and center with simple and short lyrics sprinkled in between the runtime. There is a recurring theme of ghosts: probably why the album is named “Ghostholding,” which may also tie into the Christianity theming of some of the songs with the Holy Ghost. There are also more hedonistic lyrics such as “We drink, then we drive.”
“Sister,” the final song on “Ghostholding,” is a pretty depressing way to end the album. The serenade of a synth line greets the listener along with a guitar. “I tell my boyfriend, ‘nothin’ in the world can make me feel alive’” is incredibly relatable. Support systems are hard to maintain, but they are incredibly worth it.
Having someone you love in any respect who is supportive and comforting to you is one of the greatest things life can offer a human being. There’s also a theme of angels getting Jane to do more hedonistic things. The album ends macabrely with the lyric “And I feel like the angels pulled a joke on me, they laugh and turn their backs, they leave the club and set the place on fire, I couldn’t make it out there fast enough, the girls, they tell me I’m all out of love.” What the club represents is up to personal interpretation.
I don’t personally know Jane Remover and I probably never will. I can say, however, that she is an incredibly talented musician and that her highs in music outweigh her lows. While venturing may seem to be a bit derivative, despite still sounding phenomenal, it feels like she has unlimited creativity like with the absolutely headache-inducing yet enthralling to listen to “dariacore” movement courtesy of her leroy output. I’m so glad that my friend discovered her music and showed “frailty” to me that one day in high school. This review is for them. Keep creating.
Rating: 4/5