Phantoms

Forrest Fang's run of exquisite releases continued in 2009 with Phantoms, showcasing his talent for open-ended ambient compositions that always emphasize an enthralling sonic beauty even at their most strange and alien-sounding. The arcing loops of sound that slide across the core tracks of the opening "Distant Fires" set the tone from the start, suggestive of the titular image in its sense of something captivating but far out of easy reach. Fang's list of instruments from "non-Western" sources, as he wryly puts it in the liner notes, further sets his work in an arena beyond easy classification -- the plucked strings and echo on "The Great Wheel" suggest deep, impossible to sense mysteries, while what sounds like strange bird calls makes "Slow Rise" an all the more curious, unsettled composition. The song that puts all these elements together at their most involved is unsurprisingly the longest -- at 23 minutes, "The Hallucinations of Hung Tung" gives Fang the opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of percussion while tones and electronic sighs and echoes shape the results into a breathtaking collage of serene yet always active beauty. ~ Ned Raggett