It's a strange betweenworld, bookended by sleep and the jolt of being wide awake in a place where you wonder how you got
there. You know the feeling. It seems familiar but the colours are, well, unreal. In a high-ceilinged room, a grand piano plays lush
melodies as, meanwhile, somewhere, an Alice In Wonderland clock ticks, cellos are bowed, a swarm of something vibrates and the
hallucinatory crowd around Rosemary's Baby babble. An echoey electronic hum builds and falls like a 50s refrigerator passed through
and effects board, things run backwards, staccato strings are plucked. and that's not the half of it. "I've never been happy staying in
one particular school of musical thought. The fun has been turning things on their heads, to try something you were not supposed to
do." We're on an immersive and adventurous travelogue with the former member of Tangerine Dream, Paul Haslinger - this is a man
who knows how to build tension, hold moods, illustrate contempt, lies, passion and pleasure; He can create fear, loathing and love -
he's been unlocking the nuances of such emotions in a hugely successful career as a TV and film soundtrack composer (Halt And
Catch Fire, Underworld and the Golden Globe-nominated Sleeper Cell). 'Exit Ghost' is his long thought out opus, a moment caught in
time, flicking through reference points, taking an ethereal excursion that permeates musical genres as it becomes awash with intricate
sounds and cross-pollinating rhythms. 'Exit Ghost' resonates with purity and power, from an eerie and evocative betweenworld, that's
at once expansive and rolling, then intoxicating and suffocating in equal measures; modern composition at its most uplifting; cerebral,
celebratory, intense and beautiful. Created over the span of eight years and filled with literal and personal references, the album itself is
a testament to the search - a quest filled with hints, particles and suggestions. Paul Haslinger's 'Exit Ghost' is the first release from new
label Artificial Instinct.
