Forrest Fang : phantoms

Release year 2009
8 tracks, 70 minutes

Nearly eight years in the making, Phantoms builds on soundscapes by weaving organic sounds of non-Western stringed and percussion instruments and filtering those sounds through a rich melodic tapestry of warm and vaporous atmospheres. Fang’s subtly layered and continually evolving textures combine his Asian influences with his love of fractal algorithms that reflect the chaotic beauty of nature. The ambiences of Phantoms evoke a state of contemplation within a world in flux. The centerpiece of the album is a 23-minute ambient suite — “The Hallucinations of Hung Tung” — inspired by the otherworldly paintings of a Taiwanese fisherman and outsider artist.A very fine release full of great in-depth atmospheres that any fan of Robert Rich, David Parsons or Steve Roach should absorb.

With goosebumps I listened to “Phantoms” the first time, a release by Forrest Fang. Beautiful ambient that reminded me immediately of the earlier work of Brian Eno, Robert Rich and Harold Budd. And every time again when I put on this record I’m touched by the subtle combination of spheric ambient and traditional non-Western instruments. The American-Chinese Fang uses a row of different instruments. Next to the synthesizers and violins he uses instruments like cumbus, khustar, saron, kora, sueng, kulintang, baglama, kendang and the Japanese palm harp. The use of these instruments knows his absolute highlight in the 24 minute long masterpiece ‘The Hallucination of Hung Fung’, which is perfectly introduced by the 11 minute long ‘A Walk through the Clouds’. After searching the web for some information, I’m actually quite surprised that I hadn’t heard anything of Forrest Fang before: his music is being related to Brian Eno but also to the minimalism of Terry Riley, and he even performs on some of Robert Rich’s releases. To me, Forrest Fang is another grandmaster in the ambient music.If you already know Forrest Fang, then you know what to expect and all that’s left for me to say is: this is ambient like it’s supposed to be. ( Gothtronic )

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