With the name Hulk and a sleeve color of an angry Bruce Banner I was expecting this album to be muscular and dominating but instead it is subdued and peaceful. The title of the album is apt, as there is a serene, supernatural feeling permeating the recordings. It is sad yet deeply comforting music.
Osaka Recordings
Silver Thread of Ghosts rarely makes much of a fuss. It is music that sits easily into the background becoming a presence that radiates gently from across the room instead of music that is constantly distracting. Sometimes the music reaches out like a spirit to touch the listener, when it does it is almost shocking. “The Moon Versus the Sea” is one such spirit, the rich sound of the cello and the sudden stop/start structure to the piece is like a slap in the face after the first three pieces which are beautiful but fade into the background. They’re by no means bad; “Star Bed” uses recordings of many everyday rhythmic sounds like windshield wipers and waves lapping on the shore, sounds that are normally ignored and only when attention is drawn to them does their charm become apparent. Hulk do this admirably.
The album is consistent in quality and theme. Only once did I find their music cloying and that is on the mercifully brief piece “8.52am Goodbye.” Apart from this one blemish, the album is wonderful. As well as having a good ear for environmental sounds, they also have a good ear for songwriting. The melodies and rhythms found on Silver Thread of Ghosts are a delight to listen to. They’re not a radical rewriting of music as we know it but they delicate and pretty which suits the mood perfectly. Pieces like “We Ran” and “Mytikas” form the backbone of the second half of the album, showing Hulk at their finest. As the all too brief album comes to a close I can’t wait for it to finish so I can play it again.
Silver Thread of Ghosts sounds like the antithesis of the group’s name: it is soft and sensual. The music is exquisite; the songs are the perfect length, rarely breaking the five minute mark. This gives the pieces enough time to breath but stops them becoming overworked.
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