A "Christ-Haunted" Music: Spectral Timbres and Spirituality in Trap Music

This interdisciplinary rumination explores the confluence of spectral timbres and spiritual expression in Trap music. As an heir to the Blues with its intrinsic Gothic traits, Trap music employs hauntological elements to create ritualistic spaces that juxtapose the sacred and the uncanny. The multif...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bomalaski, Rachel (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2026
In: Anthropology of consciousness
Year: 2026, Volume: 37, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-11
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B timbre
B Sacred Space
B trap music
B hauntology
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Description
Summary:This interdisciplinary rumination explores the confluence of spectral timbres and spiritual expression in Trap music. As an heir to the Blues with its intrinsic Gothic traits, Trap music employs hauntological elements to create ritualistic spaces that juxtapose the sacred and the uncanny. The multifaceted analysis of four songs, utilizing the concept of metaphysical musical space, unveils a picture of Trap spirituality that is diverse, dynamic, and unorthodox. The songs are read as texts loaded with traces: timbre reveals material spatial cues that create fantastical ritual spaces, while lyrics contain overt or sublimated theological commentaries. In contrast to the ideology of Christian respectability politics that stifles heretical expression, Trap demonstrates the potential to liberate repressed spiritualities and further the work of mourning the South's many ghosts, particularly the revenant presence of religious and racial violence.
ISSN:1556-3537
Contains:Enthalten in: Anthropology of consciousness
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/anoc.70018