Sunset Graves

With all the hustle and bustle of popular music, it sometimes pays dividends to take a sidestep into paths less well trodden. The second album by Sunset Graves, the intriguingly titled Form Your Ghost, follows similar ground to The KLF’s stunning Chill Out record, or Nine Inch Nails instrumental project Ghosts.

Electronic beats, ambient soundscapes and humming bass lines direct listeners on an intriguing journey, recorded in isolation at a creepy recording studio on the edge of the countryside. Ethereal vocals punctuate periodically with eerie precision, never quite reaching the point of comprehension, preferring instead to enhance the overall mood of the record.

Standout tracks include lead single Your Ghost is Formed, which draws comparisons to Massive Attack and Portishead; and Acidocean, which sounds like Bowie’s Crystal Japan reimagined for the 21st century.

Indeed, the Bowie vibe reoccurs sporadically throughout the album: The Solid Bones recalls The Thin White Duke’s gothic masterpiece 1. Outside, whilst Ache Like Eye could almost be a track from his …hours period.

Yet there’s no mistaking the vision on offer here is Sunset Graves alone. The influences are pulled from across the spectrum, as indeed most music is, but there’s a running thread of solitude and longing throughout the piece, and like all the great instrumental albums, it is perhaps best viewed as one whole, and a fascinating one at that.