TUNE IN, TURN ON, FREE TIBET

It's been three years since the recording of Lama Rabi Rabi and as you can see by the title of the album, Batoh's fascination of the Tibetan culture has grown immensely since the previous Ghost release and it's also a sort of protest album. This album is released in the same year as Snuffbox Immanence and it shows them in an even more acoustic and serene manner than their previous release, although the 30+ minute epic doesn't say the same.

On to the music. The first thing that came into mind when I first finished listening to it was Meddle. This album has the same structure as Meddle by Pink Floyd. The opener is different than the rest of the album, the songs in the middle are folky and soft and the ending epic is a full blown out trip! The opener starts with a weird buzzing in the background and then Batoh talking through the rest of the song with his distorted vocals. I don't quite know what he's saying since the vocals are too distorted to actually make sense of what he's saying, but there's clearly a link between the name of the song and the name of the album. The rest of the songs are very emotional and acoustically driven and all are soft on the ears. Batoh's acoustic guitar and Takizawa's wind instruments shine through this wonderful songs. There's even a mellotron thrown in for good measure! Batoh's vocals are, as always, poetic and beautiful and shine through the pastoral and folky songs on the album.

After you passed through heaven and back on tracks 2 to 7 the next stop will be the mayor LSD kraut trip, "Tune in, Turn on, Free Tibet". This is where Ghost's Krautrock and Faust influences shine for 30+ minutes. The first thing that came into mind when listening to this stunning piece was Faust's debut, but with a hint of folk we know about Ghost. The sound is drastically different from the rest of the album. There aren't any lovely mellotrons and sweet wind instruments here. This is Krautrock in the rawest sense of the word. So if you're not used to it then proceed with caution, but if you're a fan of it then you'll definitely enjoy this blown out trip.

At the end of the day you get half an album of beautiful, pastoral and delicate psych folk and another half of stoned-out-of-your-mind krautrock trip. This is certainly an odd mix and it doesn't work completely well, but the power both sides of the album makes up for its water and oil feel of the album.