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The Devin Townsend Project: Ghost

20/07/11 || The Duff

Devin hasn’t hit me square in the head for some time now; I haven’t understood the fuss over “Ziltoid” (although I would if all the tracks were like “The Greys”), and “Synchestra” and “Accelerated Evolution”, although both brilliant, don’t always satisfy unlike the guaranteed trips to Vaginaville that are all that came before. Dev’s latest two endeavors were half of a four-album concept series that seems to have fallen flat on its face with label intervention. While I’ve always admired the man for strongheadedly being on the evolve, “Ki” didn’t seem to make much sense to me until I heard “Addicted”; now with all four albums out and ready to be explored as one piece, the vision Dev originally had back in 2009 appears far more a success than the $cheme In$ideOut Record$ had in distributing the same material. Subliminable – your minds have just unknowingly been molested.

“Ghost”, being described as the most Zen of Dev’s most recent outings, is the one I’ve been anticipating the most; I figured, despite not being the biggest fan of “Ki” and “Addicted”, this would be the album to meld all and make the entire trip worthwhile (plus his calmest, most introspective works have always been my preferred). Well, to the man’s credit, this is once more a step out of the terrain of traditional Devin Townsend, best labeled as spa-music, or as by the man himself (at least I reckon going from memory) “New age flute music”. Does it work? Well, to me as a follow-up to the Tim Burton film-score “Deconstruction”, along with the pop-excess of “Addicted” and aggro-Pink Floyd of “Ki”, yes. Tremendously so, it is an unexpectedly very calm experience on the Devin scale, reviews far more astute than my own saying a disc without edge. Him being in my mind the King of Sooth I would have thought this to be far more familiar ground to the ardent Devin follower, but not so – while integrating touches of the aforementioned three efforts as such all four sharing characteristics while remaining both individual to the concept and anything Devin has produced in the past, this part of the quadrilogy is a reflective journey that is pleasing but not too taxing on the mind unlike past records more emotionally charged.

As one epic journey, these four records will undoubtedly take you through shades of varying intensities, but as a standalone effort, “Ghost” touches on the overly-lengthy side of things. It isn’t consistent, much like “Ki” where you have cuts like “Terminal” and “Disruptr” sharing the same stage – this is much to Devin’s style if you take any of his past records into account but never have his records appeared so disjointed as with his most recent. “Ghost” can at times appear one prolonged, meditative, aggravating fucking flute solo (quote me on that magical line, won’t you) – the mixture of music I was hoping would be for the most part downcast, like the beginning of “Judgement” or the end of “Bastard”, or “Terminal”, or even the beginnings of “Kawaii” or “Seams” off this very album, both tracks mixing the major and minor in ways Devin has done so exceptionally well in the past. Alas, not to be (maybe the upcoming “Ghost 2” will be more my tipple); sobriety and babies have, understandably, made him a chirpier Cannuck, and the depth seems foregone as a result – while the sense of continuity is present, the moods are pinballed about the place whereas prior to “Ki” records had an arc despite a certain emotional volatility.

Vocally, ever my hero, the man shines, but never in the true, most majestic fashion as witnessed for example on “Nobody’s Here” or “The Death of Music”; the best way to describe the vocals is that they are delicate, never intrusive with the exception of the scream near the end of “Blackberry”. There is quite the Enya vibe, such as with “Heart Baby” as with Lady Helen off “Ki”. Nothing wrong with that, Enya being the most metal of dames (as with “Ki” and “Addicted”, The Dev has once more selected a very able female vocalist with whom to team up). The production is gorgeous as to be expected, layering very similar to that off of the bombastic “Deconstruction”, just as intense but delivered via a radically different temperament. I’ve read a review comparing the two in terms of scope, and while at first I shat on the opinion, in time I found both records to be much alike depth-wise. The musicianship never veers off into complex terrains, it’s simply the most relaxing record the man has made shy of his Devlab material – nothing but clean electric and acoustic melodies (and a lot of flute), altogether good vibes, often reverb-heavy and supported by a comforting blend of noise that washes over.

A major problem with me is that I judge these last four albums for what they’re not. If I were to find a likeness to Dev’s past works, I would say “Ghost” mirrors “Synchestra” more than anything, the peace-out moments. My opinions aside (WHY ISN’T IT “INFINITY”!? WAAH!), Dev has sealed off his quadrilogy nicely, and delivered a very zen, endearing effort with “Ghost” that should satisfy many.

7,5

Information
Released: 2011
Label: InsideOut Music
Website: Devin Townsend MySpace
Band
Devin Townsend: guitars, vocals, bass, synth, ambience, banjo
Kat Epple: flute, woodwinds
Dave Young: keyboards, nord synths, harmonium, Ableton Live, mandolin
Mike St-Jean: drums, percussion
Katrina Natale: vocals

Tracklist
01. Fly
02. Heart Baby
03. Feather
04. Kawaii
05. Ghost
06. Blackberry
07. Monsoon
08. Dark Matters
09. Texada
10. Seams
11. Infinite Ocean
12. As You Were

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