Devin Townsend Project
Ghost
2011
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Devin Townsend is a Canadian madman/genius who released Deconstruction at the same time as this album, Ghost, and I must warn you, they are polar opposites. Where “Deconstruction” was very, very heavy, this is an extremely light acoustic (mostly) ambient album.
As usual, Hevy (not so much this time around) Devy does almost everything himself, playing acoustic guitar (no electrics this time) banjo, vocals, and synths. He does however, employ a female singer, flautist and a drummer to fill in parts that he cannot.
Frankly, I don’t know much about ambient or new age music: I’m a metal head, I listen to mostly metal. The only reason I bought this was because Devin Townsend was in charge (not to mention that it came with “Deconstruction”). That aside, I mostly enjoyed this. There’s a very positive vibe emanating from this disc, whether it be loving, happy, or just plain reflective the entire mood of this was just uplifting.
The first half of this album is very much driven by the acoustic guitar, Devin’s soft, heartfelt vocals, and the flute. Whereas later, the guitar takes a bit of a backseat as the synths do a lot of the work. This whole album isn’t one song after the other, it’s everything combined that makes this special. We ease in with Fly and slowly build up to Blackberry, which is easily the most “exciting” song on here. And then we slowly fade down until the end of As You Were, with some shorter energized parts on the way.
I couldn’t listen to this album by its self, I’d get bored. But as a companion to a book, or as you lay in bed before going to sleep, this album is absolutely perfect. This is acoustic ambient/new age built in a way that is just so beautiful, no music fan could refuse it. Even the most tr00 kvlt black metaller could sit and listen to this, and enjoy themselves fully. I honestly recommend this to everyone.
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Claus’ Rating 4.25/5
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