Polaroid Ghost – Belgica 1898 – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Paul Page, formerly of Whipping Boy, as well as his Sentimental Tourists project with Dave Long, has now recorded an instrumental album under the name Polaroid Ghost.  No guitar to be found here; it consists largely of wintry-sounding keyboard-based pieces.  It’s inspired by a Belgian polar expedition back in the late 1800s.

The album opens with the gentle whine of the title track.  The pieces are generally quite short, and some of them finish leaving you wanting more.  Uncharted and Gerlache Strait have a dark, foreboding rumble to them, while Cloudless Day allows a little sun to peek through.  It, like many others here (Pack Ice, Madhouse At The End of the Earth and the melodic Crystalline), is a bit transient, like the early Brian Eno ambient pieces on the likes of Music for Films.  There is a stately feel to Crossing the Circle and Amundsen, the latter taking its time to unfurl.

The two and a half minutes of Icebound: Christmas Day 1898 are gorgeous with its keyboards reminiscent of some modern classical composers.  The final track, The Return Home, is the longest and most fully realised piece, and it does a fine job of creating a cold, forbidding atmosphere.  The album is an interesting new chapter for Paul Page, and could be an interesting direction for him.

Crossing The Circle