Devin Townsend Project

Completing the Devin Townsend Project's four-album journey, Ghost is a dramatic departure from its companion release, moving away from Deconstruction's heavy core towards something akin to adult contemporary filtered through a roots-y Hevy Devy processor. Though never satisfied to be one thing ― much like you'd expect from any Devin Townsend release ― Ghost somehow comes off as deceptively straightforward, flowing softly between genres such as old-time country and new age with organic coherence, even when it's soaked in technological samples, effects and recording magic. And still, despite the quiet, laidback vibe, the album conveys a sense of intensity and mass, kind of like Terria without the screaming and distorted extremes. Breathy female vocals play a big role in Ghost's atmosphere and Townsend's singing matches those textures. In fact, the instrumentation plays into the same tapestry, so that flute, guitar (lots of acoustic strumming), voice, synth, drums and so on seem like part of the same natural soundscape. Ghost is Devin Townsend near his subtlest and it's a lovely place to be.