Super dance make-a-stand here-I-am darkly anti-anthemic dirge title-track 'Far End Of The Graveyard' busts on the scene first and is a fantastic opener. This really brings to the forefront Gavin Miller's and Tom Ragsdale's talents in creating an atmosphere by slowly introducing you to different sounds and themes, both geniuses in patience and certainly not exposing you to everything all at once. The intricate weave of perfect jigsaw sounds comes to a head around two-thirds of the way through this one when a simple brutally modulated two-note synth bridge disturbs the drums so much that they disappear for half a bar each time it repeats itself. Wonderful stuff, something I've written about before here (also the post-post-modern video is on the past post too).
Second track 'Exercise Us' opens with a hugely desertificated slow symphony of strings and horns, like a dark Lawrence of Arabia on ketamine. It's chilled pseudo-dubstep with an auxilliary beat that sounds like the beat played to the music inside the pyramid of Mario 64's Shifting Sand Land, and for this the soundscape is automatically tied to sand, pyramids, and spirits guiding you through it all (that's Zelda - sorry).
However this is far from soundtrack music, and would do just as well in a misty club at 3:00 in the morning with 12,000 units down you, dancing as if your legs don't exist - i.e. swaying. There's a wonderful breakdown in this song, displaying some attitudinal wobble and providing some bassy breathing space as the strings come back to take centre stage before we are back into the groove.
So when 'Washed Ashore' surfaces it's a welcome break. What you notice about Ghosting Season is their subtle intensity; after the first two tracks you are kind of reeling from their sound. Totally not in a bad way, but it's in their progressive build-ups that you suddenly find yourself miles away from the start of the song - the elements are still there, but so much more has risen out of the speakers that you almost find yourself looking down on the idea of a song whilst you float above it all watching its original concepts swirl around.
Thus 'Washed Ashore' - with its ambience, swooping synths, and gentle wave-crashing imitations - comes perfectly positioned; after the brooding storm of 'Far End Of The Graveyard', the lost-at-sea hallucinations of 'Excercise Us', it's nice to be washed ashore with 'Washed Ashore'.
Then we travel inland for 'Dead Man's Switch' - to some dark place, who knows where. It's a hearty chunk of progressive trance house, once again showing the skill and effort put into their songs. Sounding much more like electronica than its counterpart 'Far End Of The Graveyard', the distorted sounds bubble up after a moment of silence - this is the dead man's switch being activated (yeah I just learned what this was too). Though strangely more than any other song there's some kind of hope in there, a totally major theme running throughout the duration of the track, meaning you end on a high. Albeit a strange high, as the claps that erupt in the second half of the track add a witch house quality to it, though we all know this is far more progressive electro house with a dark twist than anything inherently dark. For me, anything that takes the focus from clinical dance music with a conceited euphoria is on the light side, ironically.
So are we in limbo? No. We've been taken on a wonderful journey filled with highs and lows, astonishing attention to detail in creating atmospheric soundscapes that you can positively get lost in, and a wholly deep, organic sound that is a joy to listen to. We're in heaven.
Listen below. I recommend it:
• Check out their SoundCloud for extra remixes
• Their official website
• Their Vimeo for the supercool 'Far End Of The Graveyard' video
• Their Bandcamp to download the EP (minimum payment £1.50)
• And follow them on Twitter
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
