- For over a decade, Jim Jupp and Julian House have used the Ghost Box label as a platform for their musical projects, Belbury Poly and The Focus Group. In their world, sound and visual aesthetics—the latter crafted by House himself, an iconic graphic designer—work together to send you deeper into the universe. Everything is steeped in nostalgia, cosmic horror, half-truths and fantasy, inspired as much by children's TV programs as library music, the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and musique concrète.
Stasis is Martin Jenkins' second Pye Corner Audio album for Ghost Box. According to the label, it's a sort of sequel to 2012's Sleep Games, which came out around the time The Black Mill Tapes was re-released on vinyl. The creeping dread and analogue sounds that defined that series were a perfect match for Ghost Box, while Sleep Games' dark Italo and John Carpenter-esque inflections were a complementary addition. Made of compositions that speak to the subconscious, Stasis takes those ideas further.
Jenkins' last few records—such as Pye Corner Audio's Prowler and Head Technician's Zones—found the typically non-dance music artist taking to the dance floor. This time, however, the music is split between hauntological club sounds and the producer's usual electronic experimentation. On "Lost Ways" and "Vorsicht," there's dreamy disco with an otherworldly twist, and there's a lovely acidic tryst going on in "Pulse Threshold." As for dark, urgent beats, there's "At The Heart Of Stasis," "Autonomization" and the eerie "Ganzfeld Effect." But genre's aren't so black and white here—every track is a mix of dark and light sounds. What Jenkins does best is concerned less with individual parts than the greater whole they create. Stasis is like a self-contained world in Ghost Box's paranormal realm.
Tracklist01. Approach
02. Lost Ways
03. Autonomization
04. Sleep Chamber
05. Ganzfeld Effect
06. A Chance?
07. Electric Eye
08. At The Heart Of Stasis
09. Transformative State
10. Vorsicht
11. Ways Regained
12. Pulse Threshold
13. Verberation Lab
14. Mountain View