Nov 11, 2026 · 35 min
Mastodon turns loss into a song of remembrance
Mastodon - Your Ghost Again
The episode shows how Mastodon continued creating after profound personal and band upheaval, transforming grief into a collaborative recording.
- 1Mastodon traces “Your Ghost Again” from Bill Kelliher’s basement riffs to a densely arranged recording.
- 2Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders, and Bill Kelliher describe writing amid Brann’s mother’s death and Brent Hines’s departure and death.
- 3Outside producers and layered vocal collaboration helped the band balance extreme heaviness with emotional and dynamic clarity.
Don't miss
Brann Dailor and Troy Sanders explain how “Your Ghost Again” became a tangible form of remembrance for Brent Hines and Brann’s mother.
The brief
Brann Dailor, Troy Sanders, and Bill Kelliher recount Mastodon’s formation in Atlanta before turning to the upheaval surrounding Brent Hines’s departure and death.
“Your Ghost Again” began with guitar ideas in Bill Kelliher’s basement, then grew through repeated additions into an unusually dense arrangement.
The band was also facing Brann Dailor’s mother’s illness and death, forcing its members to decide whether continuing together could become a way through grief.
Recording began soon after Brent Hines’s death, with Patrick Berger and Kurt Ballew helping restructure the song and sharpen its heavy, dynamic vocal production.
The finished song becomes a tangible act of remembrance, carrying grief while preserving the good in the relationships that shaped Mastodon’s album.
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