Black Swan

There is something special about that dark and nostalgic music that seems to be echoing from the past, as if breaking through another dimension of time, trembling through the gritty playback on a warped and dusty tape, fading in and out on a crumbling old photograph, shades of colours long gone… long gone. The music of Black Swan has embraced this noir-fi aesthetic throughout the years, ever since I first heard the debut, In 8 Movements, released in 2010. Immersed in chilling ambience, hauntology, and the ephemera left behind, the music of Black Swan captures the eerie essence of the in-between, exploring the shadowed depths that linger at the periphery. Exactly twelve years ago, I invited this mysterious artist from New York to make me a Halloween-themed mix, which I published here as Music For Masquerade. Today, I am premiering two tracks for you from his upcoming album on Past Inside The Present, titled Ghost, to be released, of course, on Halloween. This is now his ninth full-length release, in which the spirits roam in our world, leaving their voiceprints on abandoned reel-to-reels to be discovered and played back. And as the twenty pieces and vignettes recede and fade away, all we are left with are the memories imprinted on our hearts and minds. The memories of those who are long gone… long gone. As we will be some day.