Review: GREYGHOST - Memoirs Of Dementia

“Purple Dye #5” tilts gently back and forth between two warm synthesiser chords. Coupled with the title, one imagines a small globule of paint rolling around a sloped surface; soft and graceful in motion, gliding as a ball of harmony and colour. As though mesmerised by its perpetual return, GREYGHOST proceeds to decorate the surface with other small details – flakes of drone, the subtle crackle of background noise – while ensuring that the course of the music’s central melody is kept pristine and constant.

Memoirs Of Dementia doesn’t always abide by this quest for sonic equilibrium, and while following track “Nectar Of The Eastern Gods” remains within tranquil and aqueous territory, it doesn’t hesitate in sending of a few moderate ripples through the stasis – a synthesiser bubbles and hisses off to one side like the activation of submarine engines, occasionally swamping the piece’s melodic anchorage. Furthermore, the upper harmonies of “Flowing Spirit Jar” waver ever so slightly out of tune like a bird trying to maintain a straight course of flight, tilting as slight pockets of air nudge the wings up or down.

But its blemishes are nothing but endearing – imperfections that trace GREYGHOST back to human activity rather than artificial generation. For all its idyllic and lush texture, Memoirs Of Dementia doesn’t feel escapist. Quite the opposite in fact; it’s a return to source, a womb of lively warmth that doesn’t replace life’s images with abstract conjurations, but merely softens the edges of what’s already there.