Belgian/Canadian duo Ghostwoman consists of vocalist/guitarist Evan Uschenko and drummer Ille van Dessel. The pair will release their new album, Welcome to the Civilized World (Full Time Hobby/Dine Alone) on September 5. Today, they’re sharing the video for their first new single, “Alive.” The band is also set to tour across Europe later this year and the US in 2026.

Evan Uschenko explains the story behind “Alive”:

“I was setting up a 12-string guitar and just started to play the chords. In the ’60s, bands like The Byrds were using 12-strings as a main instrument, so I was imagining that sort of sound – trying to play something that had that same type of feeling. It evolved into something like The Replacements or The Water Boys, and then it started sounding like the fucking FRIENDS song. We made it in a house – a super loud, not sound-treated house – and we recorded the drums with a mistakenly stolen microphone from a show we did with Fat White Family. The lyrics were written long after, just sitting on the bed. Sometimes, certain songs just write themselves. Certain chords and certain notes yank you into other notes. That’s how the music happened.”

Ille van Dessel adds,

“Evan made the riff, I made the drums. It was very easy, almost just immediately done. I love the song because of the whole day behind it, its simplicity, how there’s nothing to overthink. It’s like when you get everyone lined up, you take a picture, and that’s it – it’ll always stay like that. It all made sense.”

There is no reason for GHOSTWOMAN’s fourth album to exist. Welcome to the Civilized World is born to a broken world; a corrupt inheritance – Evan Uschenko and Ille van Dessel are under no illusions about its futility – and yet, this thing is alive. It’s an allergic reaction to the times we are living in: a welt that screams to be itched, the purging of a modern sickness they could no longer stomach. Beyond rationality, this record came from a place of gut feeling and a lack of any other option. Hell may have cracked wide open – but GHOSTWOMAN will not go quietly.

GHOSTWOMAN itself only exists because Uschenko and van Dessel were the ones “stupid enough to commit to it.” Conceived by Uschenko after cutting his teeth as a touring multi-instrumentalist, the project was brought to life in an abandoned farmhouse in Diamond City, Alberta. There for two months, he would make the self-released, self-titled debut album which was produced and dubbed directly to custom-made cassette tapes. The music has always been beautifully inhospitable, earned only by those curious enough to seek it out.