a r t i s t : Phil Maggi
t i t l e : Ghost Love
d a t e : 2011
l a b e l : Idiosyncratics
g e n r e : Avantgarde/Ambient/Folk
r l s. d a t e : nov/2011
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 68,8 MB
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"A well appropriated musical and textural contrast can be an
incredibly satisfying thing to hear. That way of combining
ambient prettiness with noise and fuzz chosen by the likes of
Fennesz and Belong for instance, or Barn OwlÆs dusty twilight
stasis atop a bed of doomed grunt. The feeling of having your
brain pulled in several directions at once or in a jarring or
disorientating sequence, being forced to feel conflicting
bodily and mental reactions as the material unfolds, can
distinguish an interesting, multi-layered album from its
counterparts.
What we have with Phil MaggiÆs æGhost LoveÆ is a set of tracks
that visits various outposts of experimental music and wraps
them up into something that shimmers with droning organic
ambience on one hand; on the other it guides the listener
through a quasi-ritualistic experience set out through
primitive percussive or mechanical rhythms, captured ethnic
vocal loops and even some Leyland Kirby-esque æhauntologyÆ
(most obviously on the closing track) to push the unsettling
atmosphere and support the recordÆs title.
And unsettling really is the word for the majority of this
album. Tracks like æHordesÆ and æMeshes, AshesÆ seem to
possess a sense of dread, steeped in weird history and darkly
enchanting like uncovered sonic relics of a long abandoned
time in a distant place. This seems to overlap into something
more exotic as the ever changing locational character of other
tracks aim to place us, briefly, in one of a variety of
surreal climates. And again, the exoticism then overlaps with
the aforementioned ambience that makes up a large part of the
albumÆs lighter side, more in tune with the kind of delicate
ambience you might expect from one of the wide selection of
artist operating under the swollen ambient / drone umbrella.
Though these tracks contrast notably with the otherness
(Andrew Liles mastered this, which makes a strange kind of
sense) they make for an album overview which is unpredictable,
intriguing and fairly unique in itÆs ability to smartly
combine the ambient with the avant-garde. æSlaveryÆ is perhaps
the finest example of this û a simple, Ous Mal sounding
ostinato backed with layers of vocals and slapped drums that
continues for six decidedly beautiful minutes.
And that, in a nutshell, is I think how this album succeeds.
On paper it could easily be expected to form a bit of a mess,
contrasting ideas not working together but cancelling each
other out and weakening the overall work. It is not so. æGhost
LoveÆ bravely attempts to meld these and the result is an
album full of artifacts to pick through, get lost in and
emerge satisfied despite being none the wiser about what the
last forty two minutes mean and why the sounds have been
married as they haveà the lack of resolution one might feel at
perhaps never knowing this only adds to its mystifying
personality." Daniel W J Mackenzie, FLUID RADIO
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01-Blood and Heart Weavings [04:35]
02-This Stabbing Silence [01:43]
03-Antecedents [02:25]
04-Forest [03:54]
05-Hordes [03:47]
06-Meshes, Ashes [02:35]
07-The Tumult [04:58]
08-Tightrope [01:28]
09-Slavery [05:57]
10-Witches [05:27]
11-Chains [05:08]
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41:57 min