“Time” drives the rescuers onward as ivories are hammered and hi-hats like the hands of clocks are steady, without pause. And through the set’s first half, this urgency barely relents. With speed being the essence of disaster recovery efforts, this action is paired with urgency. We don’t know what has befallen this troubled nation (pick one of many recent disasters), but from here action trumps mourning ~ the stoic face of the Japanese to the fore. A distorted voice intones something that sounds like a countdown, a clock chimes and a menacing synth swells. First track “after the rain” ties the narratives together through both the title and sorrow-infused string melodies that course through its core. It is a more focused display than 2015’s sprawling Into the Shadows, yet keeps some of that set’s sparks of optimism alive. Ghost in the Clocks, the Japanese group’s fifth LP, sees co-composers Takahiro Kido and Yuki Murata return both conceptually and musically to that third record from 2012. Most telling of all, the sky is no longer weeping. Artist Yoko Shinto has returned to portray the mysterious woman again ~ but now she looks forward rather than down, and is on a path rather than a cliff’s edge. When we reviewed the third record of Anoice, The Black Rain, Rich opened in praise of its beguiling cover art. If the cover looks familiar, it’s because you’ve almost seen it before.
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