Tales from the Incantina

This is quite possibly some of the best work that Richard Bone has ever done. Tales From the Incantina seems to take up where Spectral Ships and Etherdome left off, and then pushed it even a little further. Bone's sound has always had a profound effect. Bone's use of layering and multi-tracking is second to none, and melodically his work is quite possibly the best in the genre. Bone's one of the few ambient/space artists that really knows how to develop melodies subtly and carefully, blending them into the sonic fabric of a piece without the melodic motif commanding the piece. Tales From the Incantina, like Bone's Hypnos Recordings work, is totally original and in a league of its own. Interestingly enough you hear a bit of a Brian Eno à la Apollo sound on Tales From the Incantina, or perhaps it's Bone's chording which is quite reminiscent of the textures that Eno has used in the past; whatever it is, make no mistake about it — Bone has crafted a profoundly approachable ambient/space work while at the same time managing to outdo himself once again. This follow-up to Spectral Ships and Etherdome is a fantastically rich recording that caps off the trilogy nicely.