Even when the result is not entirely to my taste, I am always grateful for the opportunity to listen to music that requires you to concentrate upon it. Estonian band Raskatarsis have their second album called “Sketches For Ghosts” and it does indeed require your concentration.
To describe “Sketches For Ghosts” as a collection of ambient textures does seem justified and certainly more appropriate than calling these eight tracks songs. As your ears adjust themselves to the rather discontinuous nature of Raskatarsis’s music, you begin to feel that the inspiration for them was decidedly industrial with the rhythms of the factory most evident in “Skitsid 11.2” and the distinctly ominous “Kevad 2”.
Like most instrumental albums of a synthetic nature, I found it difficult to form an emotional connection with the music. That might just be me, of course, and does not in any way detract from the evident care that has gone into the creation of this little opus.
Of special note, however, is the impressive casebound packaging that contains the album itself, a photo booklet by Sten Eltermaa and a lyric booklet in both English and Estonian. You can get the CD from Bandcamp.