Monolake – Ghosts

The chilly techno that brings Monolake's GHOSTS to life travels to some darker realms, with a wobble bass and ominous vocals, while maintaining the careful hiss and clang of the percussion. "Taku" brings the mystery to the primary melodic line, as the rest of the track stays barebones, leading into the spare, gurgling rhythm of "Afterglow." A more familiar form of techno reappears on "Hitting the Surface," though the abstraction remains, even into the hollower tones of "Discontinuity." The quicker pace of "The Existence of Time" brings some fluttering sweeps, while "Phenomenon" leans heavily on its bass, bringing in the other sounds as drapery for the darkness, until the horn-like whistles grow too loud to be ignored. "Unstable Matter" is a pure soundscape that slowly grows in strength until it fades out, but then "Lilith" grounds us in the rhythm once more. Meanwhile the cool thrum of "Aligning the Daemon" contrasts the dramatic organ chord the hangs above it like a Gothic arch before "Foreign Object" closes out the album with what sounds like a filtered Gregorian chant coming up behind the sharp beats, until the voices finally reveals themselves to be a list of numbers. While this album can be off-putting at time, its briskness and carefully-wrought structure will manage to haunt you nonetheless.

Contrary to some other reviews here I'd say this is a very strong release by Monolake. But also one not as easily approachable. It presents a very focused atmosphere, forcing the listener to pay attention and follow each note, to unravel the easily missed fragile structure of each track. While maybe not very memorable, Ghosts achieves a foreboding and uneasy sound through rhythmical use of whispered voices, short droning basslines and percussive hits reminscent of poltergeist rappings on furniture. If the listener becomes aware of the suggestive use of such specific sounds, the journey becomes much more interesting and enjoyable. Better listened to as thematic sound art than futuristic abstract techno suite, Ghosts gets repeated plays from me, each time offering a new discovery in its web of eerie microsounds.

Not one of Monolake's strongest albums. Where are the atmospherics, soundscapes, and hypnotic rhythms? Beats me. It's a heavily dnb-influenced release with an emphasis on technical accomplishment at the expense of a coherent, emotive album. Moreover, only two-thirds of this album is actually well-produced, the rest is at best forgettable. It reminds me of Dino Sabatini's SHAMAN'S PATHS in style/mood but GHOSTS is a far more thorough and robust work than the latter. Ultimately, GHOSTS fails to exceed the billing of a "technical workout", and come year-end it was not surprising to see GHOSTS noticeably absent on most top lists.

This album sounds like a techstep drum & bass record done in the style of Monolake. It's all about harsh, metallic breakbeats and deep two-note basslines accompanied by murky drones and noises. The album's inner cover has a short, eerie horror vignette which reads like a prologue to a ghost story, and you can imagine many of these tunes being used as a soundtrack to a sci-fi horror movie like "Alien" or "Event Horizon". Still, one can't escape the feeling that this is a lite version of what drum & bass producers were doing 10–15 years ago, such as Aquasky on "Bodyshock", or 4 Hero on the second disc of "Two Pages". It's effective but not particularly innovative.

This album continues on where 'Silence' left off. Many of the same techniques are familiar throughout although 'Ghosts' has a darker feeling to it, as the name would suggest. The incorporation of white noise adds to the tense mood. The percussion is sparse and has been positioned nicely in three dimensions. This is the work of a guy who knows both the software and the hardware inside out. "The album was composed, edited and recorded and mixed entirely in Ableton Live..."

Once again we witness a lot of 'field recording' used in a way that doesn't detract from the sound. The little clunks, clinks, clatters, etc. are all gorgeously percussive.

Almost all the tracks are strong. There are three that aren't quite on par with the others. But it's difficult to complain because overall the album is very musical, an enjoyable listen and of the highest quality production-wise.