Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld
(Drag City)
Unless you are a native, or your initials are Alan Cummings, it is a safe assumption that the level of your assimilation into the culture and history of Japan is minimal. In the UK, at least, Japanese cultural history (if not studies of its foreign policy) has pretty much evaded the education syllabus. Armed with this assumption, critics reviewing a release from those shores seem often to be bound by the chains of an additional assumption, namely that the only method of conveying an accurate impression of the music within to such a culturally immature readership is to point out its evident Western influences. This annoys me.
Not for one minute would I dare to argue that Ghost have not been hugely influenced by various strains of Western "popular" music over the duration of their 20 year career—there is abundant evidence of plentiful and varied inspiration on Hypnotic Underworld. My annoyance stems more from the fact that the glorious result of this musical osmosis is often attributed to a "misreading," or an ignorant and chance juxtaposition, of the relevant Western styles. My preferred view is that there is no such miscomprehension, just a demonstration of a wonderful artistic inhibition. High Rise, Fushitsusha, Ghost, Magical Power Mako, Taj Majal Travellers, White Heaven, and Acid Mothers Temple (to name but the most celebrated) have perfectly understood the nuances in those styles, that, albeit fitfully, have made their way across the world, and have formed and twisted those influences into their own particular piece of what has developed into an intricate and fascinating musical mosaic over the last 30 years. These bands have blazed, and in most cases continue to blaze, an incomparable trail of uninhibited beauty which we in the West are fortunate indeed to be able to witness.
Hypnotic Underworld is a great title—I hope it came before completion of the composition—as it is a truly apt description of the music on offer. The CD opens with the title track, split into four ever-decreasing segments of the inferno—a work perfectly structured to accompany our modern Orpheus on his ultimately doomed descent in search of his kidnapped love. Whereas Part 1 is a 13-minute improvised and fluttering journey around the outer regions of the underworld, part 4, the epicentre ("Leave The World!"), offers a mere 22 seconds of rapid tribal drums. Part 3 is supreme—an electric riff-led (Zeppelin) rock miniature coming as a surprise after the relative calm experimentalism of its predecessors.
Indeed, the remainder of the album is equally, and deliberately, confrontational in its juxtapositions. After the epic opening track comes its polar opposite in name and substance—a honey-drenched cover of Earth & Fire's "Hazy Paradise." From then on the listener is presented with a constant fluctuation (often mid-song) between mild rock (but not the heavy guitar onslaught I had been led to expect) and flute and oboe-led Incredible String Band/Current 93 acid-folk mellow meanderings. A dance beat in the Soul 2 Soul vein is even introduced after 7 minutes of "Ganagmanag." The album's trail ultimately finds its way to a wonderfully touching genuflection at an obvious influence—a cover of Syd Barrett's "Dominoes" that is peerless in its cautious execution. Mr. Barrett would, I think, approve.
Like any work which succeeds, Hypnotic Underworld does so on its own terms; it transcends its influences, ends up being something entirely more valuable than the sum of its parts, and manages to add yet another volume to the already impressive other-continently canon of Japanese psych releases. It succeeds because it is a blend not a splatter—a puree not a cocktail—and it takes skill-a-plenty and the experience Ghost have to be able to prepare delights in this manner.
This record is a triumph—the most effective and ambitious document to date of the band's explorations and one that will be heavily rotated on the home stereo throughout 2004.
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