Customer Reviews

Chasing After Shadows... Living with the Ghosts

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm thrilled to be the first to review this, i thought it would be already littered with gleeful reviews describing this albums incredible affect over body and soul. I'm a big Hammock fan but that doesn't mean i didn't go into this album with skepticism. I thought "Maybe they will sing" was a small step down and i was hoping the direction wouldnt continue. Boy did i have nothing to worry about.

This album is a step back to their roots. Less electronic, though the electronic elements do add a great touch in these lighter tunes. The vocals are scarcely scattered throughout the album and the songs that do feature these soulful and calming vocals are gorgeously layered and some of the standouts on the album. Very remniscent of the Kenotic era, with songs like Breathturn and The world we knew when we were children sounding similar to "Blankets of Night" BUT remaining very original in their own way.

The songs have more hope in their sound and atmosphere, and a great deal of nostalgia is aroused through these layered and delicate compositions. IT is THE perfect music for engaging and relaxing at the same time. How it's been done is a mystery to me but all i can say is this album is SO damn beautiful and i'm sure many will agree with me. My favourite tracks include:

The backwards Step
Breathturn
In the Nothing of a Night
You lost the Starlight in your eyes
Something other than Remaining

Highly recommended for fans of ANY genre, Fans of remniscing, contemplating and simply relaxing.

I know that an album is timeless, when after many years I return to it, and it still sounds fresh. Not only does the sound not age, but I feel like I should tell everyone about it all over again! And the music... it slowly hovers over the roofs of the sleepy houses, swirling down the chimneys into my cold morning room, and slips into my mouth with the steam of the freshly brewed coffee... This soaring quality is the staple sound of Hammock. I first became aware of the band with their 2006 release, Raising Your Voice... Trying to Stop an Echo. There is a special quality to that album. Like an old friend, it can bring back the eternally haunting feelings of belonging with a simple gentle hug. The fourth LP by Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, Chasing After Shadows... Living with the Ghosts, is a follow-up to the duo's Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow (Hammock Music, 2008). Hammock returns with the multi-layered, reverb-heavy, sonic drifts, blending organic ambient with shoegaze and skydrift. The guitars again play as the foundation of every composition, complimented with the resonant voices of strings and subdued percussion, ready to lift you above the trees and let you fall with leaves and the warm summer breeze. Washing away the edgy remainders of last night's bad dreams, Hammock paints a soundscape of pillow-soft meadows, deep ocean breathing, and boundless time. These ethereal lullabies are perfectly accented with track titles like "In The Nothing Of A Night", "The World We Knew As Children", and "Something Other Than Remaining". In addition to the six-panel digipack, the album is released as a limited edition book collaboration with photographer Thomas Petillo. This hardback volume, North West East South, includes a four-track ambient EP. Make sure to also pick up Hammock's prior releases, The Sleep-Over Series (Volume 1), and Kenotic (Hammock Music, 2005). Chasing... is quickly rising to the top of my favorite albums of the year so far... Highly recommended for the followers of Lights Out Asia, Port-Royal, July Skies, Stars of the Lid, and The American Dollar. This is music for driving with the top down in the back country. This is music for meditating on a cliff above the ocean. This is music for chasing after shadows... and for everyone one of us, living with the ghosts.

After having becoming an ardent fan of Hammock over the past year and collecting all of their music, I've been very pleased with their new album. It is beautifully crafted and is rich with gorgeous textures and sounds that you just want to rewind and play over and over again.

I do have to admit that, while each song tells a beautiful story with minimal words, the overall pace of the album seems to be a bit too slow, at least for me. Raising Your Voice...Trying to Stop an Echo is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I was hoping to experience more of the upbeat, head-nodding rhythms that appear on that album. I also feel that a sense of melancholy pervades this album, as if we're being called to long for something from the past.

To be fair, though, these guys are maturing their sound and exploring new ideas, and I'm glad that they're going in new directions. It's hard to pinpoint how this album sounds different--aside from the aforementioned slow pace--but you'll know once you hear it.

I'm sure people will disagree with my sentiments which is totally cool. I still love this album, and I give it 4.5 stars.

Lovely record. Reminds me most of the Cocteau Twins (sans vocals), but that isn't the only set of influences here. Really enjoy it.

I listened to a few tracks from this CD off of Hearts of Space ([...]). It was program 911. I had to hear more. Favorite tracks include "In The Nothing Of A Night" and "How Can I Make You Remember Me?". Simply beautiful and relaxing.

Hammocks newest release (2010) sees the band returning to their thought provoking, brain-filling sounds, which is a welcome home after the "way too ambient" music on their previous 2008 release Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow. I like ambient as much as the next person who likes ambient, but compared to Hammock's other releases, which in my opinion are awesome, (I especially love their first CD from 2005) Kenotic. "Chasing After shadows...Living With The Ghosts" sees Hammock back on track with what they do best, which is spacey, introspective, cinematic dream-music. Like their 2007 "Raising Your Voice" CD Raising Your Voice Trying to Stop an Echo, this disc picks up right where that one left off. This band is most comfortable in the listener's head. They come across like a more-rock/space-like Enigma A Posteriori. Highly recommended for down time and melancholy moments, yet just as welcome are the times when they pick up the pace and compete with similar bands i.e. Explosions in the Sky All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, Bitcrush In Distance, Nudge As Good As Gone, Glider One Day at a Time, or Aarktica Or You Could Just Go Through. Enjoyable music for your mind!

bangin CD. i listened to this when i made a fire with my girlfriend. very relaxing. very chill. very good if you have a good stereo. if you have a bad stereo you might think it's boring. maybe not. my stereo rules.

While "Hammock" unquestionably produces some of the most beautiful and emotional music of our time, often times they ruin the mood with cheesy vocals. This drives me nuts! "You Lost the Starlight in Your Eyes" is a great example. This wonderfully textured and emotional music starts to take you away; you might feel a tear roll down your cheek and think "Wow, life isn't so bad...", then a mix of 3 vocal lines get mixed in, with a poor melody that doesn't fit the music as well as it could. THIS BAND SHOULD NEVER USE VOCAL ACCOMPANIMENT!!! I don't know if its this bands approach a bring in more of a mainstream audience? (Everyone knows instrumental music is never embraced by mainstream audiences...) Don't get me wrong, this is a wonderful album that anyone who listens to post-rock, shoegaze, ambient, or the like should listen to. Just be ready for "Hammock" to suddenly take away your bliss and replace it with a sense of frustration...