A little caveat emptor about this release; Robin Storey (Rapoon) is only “with” on the first track (although it does take up a full ten minutes of the total forty-five), sounding very Rapoon-y in remixing material provided by Mystified, primarily ‘Pacific II’ I would guess, loading it on board a ghost train heading for points unknown. On the other hand, the spirit of Rapoon is certainly with Mystified for a good portion of the journey. He fairly bleeds through into the slowly winding circles described on the subsequent track, ‘Seaborn’. The tracks originate from Mystified’s back catalogue, 2002 to be precise, when the first edition of Music for Transit was self released. I dare say that ten years ago, Mystified was more than a little influenced by Rapoon.
But as Mystified (he has other names, too), Thomas Park is a proven, yeoman ambient artist who has released many a fine work shaded both dark and light. This one is more dun coloured. As we are so used to hearing on Storey’s own records, Mytstified freights the air with a plague of locusts, juddering machinery, agitated hazes out of which emerge what can be called the main theme of each piece, as in the creepy, sweltering ethno-ambience of ‘Pacific’ or dark melody of ‘Short Meditation’ under shimmering cymbals. The most attractive and memorable moments are the repetitive tones dropping like rain on steel girders on ‘Seaborn II’, the brightest points of light on an altogether coherent, pleasing album.
Stephen Fruitman
