Cassette Review // The Lonely Bell "Ghost Town Burning" (Blackjack Illuminist Records)

 

https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-town-burning

This cassette begins with a slow ambience.  It's drifting, slowly, into the void.   Somewhat eerie as well.   It's quiet and minimal, but does feel as if it's growing slightly.  The way this just remains in this calm, quiet way keeps me on edge as I feel like at any moment we could just get this really loud guitar chord cutting through.   Even though the sound is minimal, it does remind me of metal somehow and so waiting for it to kick in, that anticipation, feels like it really creates this tension around this sound.

Electronics can come through slightly, but there are also these sounds which feel like ghosts trying to break through as well.  Everything is so calm and hypnotizing that it's difficult not to hear these sounds coming through.  It really feels like there are these spirits trapped back there and the longer you listen the more you feel like they could be set free.

On the flip side there is a similar sense of drone only the tones aren't as much as bass, where it feels more like a dream or a broken carousel.   There was a time when you'd watch television and to indicate that we were going into a dream sequence or flashback it'd create these wavy lines across the screen.   This music really feels like it's doing that.

There is more melody somehow as this side rings through, but it remains in that ambient and overall drone type of genre.   This is certainly something you'd want to put on for quiet activity, reflection and relaxation.   Though it does feel as if there are more sounds on the second side, this still remains quiet and overall minimal.