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An apt title, for not only is this the pair's collaboration with the Japanese psychedelic band, Ghost, but this record does seem to pass right through you, causing a sudden chill and making your neck hair stand on end. It's also rather hard to actually grasp. From the shimmering The Mirror Phase you then get the baroque The New World giving the feeling that you've had a haunting from the past, complete with rattling chains and moaning voices! After this brief visitation it's back to the dreamy, ethereal Damon & Naomi of old, only with a few more instruments. Saw/theramin noises hang in the air while keyboards back the languid strummings and quiet vocals. The odd guitar burst, such as the opening of I Dreamed Of The Caucasus and the close of Tanka will invoke Galaxie 500 flashbacks and raise the tempo above trance-like for a while, but it's too brief and most tracks just glide by like a light mist. This is an essential addition for existing fans and quite likely to bewitch newcomers, but it's still lacking the body to break them out of their crepuscular haunting grounds and allow them to stand in the harsh light of day.

Laurence Arnold
CWAS #6 - Autumn 2000

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