“An opus mainly aimed at those who are found of Dark Ambient music with an industrial vibe”
1 Why is Irrelevant 19:23
2 The Thought was Missing 19:49
(CD/DDL 39:12) (V.F.)
(Dark Ambient Music)
It's like a machine that purrs. That is breathing. A wave of cerulean synth hovers over this dark movement of a machine that struggles to exhale, projecting a halo of steel blue that seeks to pierce this heavy industrial droning. The opening minutes of Why is Irrelevant set the tone for this intense opus of Dark Ambient music that Ghosts In Mirrors performed at PostX in Merelbeke in the framework of Live Session on October 18, 2018. The album, available as a limited edition of 200 CDs as well as a download, went completely unnoticed. And yet, we are in the elegy of ambient music for those nights when sleep is our enemy. The rhythm is based on those slow synchronized breaths that are identical to the slow movements of an invertebrate predator. Wearing a good headset amplifies the auditory pleasure where we hear the slightest nuances, like those distant flashes that seem to whisper to us incomprehension. Gradually, this silver halo that adorned this slow mephistophelic procession evaporates like a hoop of smoke having completed its cycle, modifying the inaccuracy of its sound range for a bank of buzzes after the 9th minute. This first track of COLD DUST then becomes more intense with this new layer of reverberations which drowns the chthonian murmurs that our ears perceive not without pain. The synth weaves misshapen arabesques above this slow continuous vibration. They gather to form an improbable synthesized song which captivates our hearing. This song undulates slowly, sometimes dull and sometimes more acute. It's also this unexpected signal that makes the machines beat, providing an abstract and yet very effective rhythm to which is grafted a series of industrial noises that weave another structure of ambient rhythm in a harmonious vision of metallurgical cacophony.
Ghosts In Mirrors is a solo project by Koen Buytaert, the half of The Roswell Incident. He kindly sent me this album as part of an exchange of messages regarding the future projects of the Belgian duo. So I learned that a new album from The Roswell Incident is planned for this fall, as well as a new album from Ghosts In Mirrors. With this new solo project, Koen Buytaert is aiming at an audience that likes a darker ambient style with an industrial touch wrapped around the humming waves of the synths. Don't look for sequencers or electronic drums, there aren't any. COLD DUST is a dark ambient music concert that is in search of the emptiness of existence. Keon adds an industrial touch that suits the setting in which he presented the first act of his new solo project. The hum of The Thought was Missing hits our ears with more violence. It splits into lines that wriggle like a handful of snakes frightened by industrial knocking to coalesce into a compact mass of mechanical howls and hisses that have a fiery fire-eclipse color. It reminds me of Klaus Schulze's corrosive, acidic moments in his early Cyborg and Irricht albums, especially when a murky organ layer circles the movement after piano notes structure a horror movie pace. These chords and their resonances coupled with the industrial screeching can feed a collective neurosis. I have to admit that I found this passage to be quite painful for my ears, to say the least. One thing is certain, this opening of The Thought was Missing has nothing to guide us to sleep. Quite the opposite where our ears are riveted to its ascension guided by the waves of this sinister organ that slalom between the various sources of industrial noises. Increasing the inclination of it Luciferian song after the 12th minute, it continues this sonic introspection where the sounds seek new colors in a finale that has undoubtedly found the emptiness of existence.
There will be no lies here, COLD DUST by Ghosts In Mirrors is a difficult album to tame if you are not a fan of music for dark and metallurgical ambiences. There is an obsessive side to this music, even in The Thought was Missing, that keeps us hooked to our headphones. A sign that it is well done, and that Koen Buytaert has skilfully created an atmosphere where the delirium of some communicates with the curiosity of others. I am very curious to hear the next one...
Sylvain Lupari (August 23rd, 2022) *****
Available at Antenna Festival Bandcamp