Calidonia County – The Ghosted Years
Having now taken a few days to fully absorb the ethereal Ghosted Years, the Moon Glyph label’s final 2014 release, as well as the third release from ambient-synth artist Ian Ferguson, aka Calidonia County, it’s quite clear it’s made of the same intangible stock as the equally lovely Telegraph Canyon, his last outing on Baro. In any case, it would seem that Chicago’s loss is Brooklyn’s gain as Ferguson is now relocating to the latter in order to further pursue his graphic art interests and he’s shelving Calidonia County as he goes. Comprised of different types of delicate repeats and tones, The Ghosted Years is thus this project’s closing argument and, at almost an hour in length, and having taken two years to commit to tape, it’s inevitably a ponderous composition rather than a rousing one.
One of several six-minute slow-rollers, “The Batteries In Gods Hands” showcases the seriously laid-back, a horizontal dither of micro-electronics: part pastoral drone, part aural massage. The relatively opaque “Totality”, on the other hand, makes the case for neoclassical shuffle, looped flutters of notes finally washing those New Year hangovers away. In between, of course, there are unhurried, barely-there passages of synth ambiance, while the gentle ebb and flow of tracks like “Bioluminescence” flicker and pulse like rose-tinted memories of beachfront bliss, windblown embers of a shimmering beat conjuring Balearica’s ghost.
At the other end of the spectrum, the magnetic wave formations of “Dinner Money” lull and draw you in like a Siren beaming directly into the dopamine cortex. Finally, after a number of zero-gravity vibes that threaten to float off into the arms of forever, “Ghost, Wine, And Dusk” sucks The Ghosted Years down a wormhole and spits it out again into the slow-chiming, nebulous atmosphere of an earth-like planet so clean it burns the lungs. As final communiqués go, The Ghosted Years is like throwing a message in a bottle into a vacuum. Long may it hang in suspension.
~The Ghosted Years cassette is out now via Moon Glyph.~