https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hauntology-in-uk
Lost futures is the nexus of Mark Fisher’s interpretation of Derrida’s philosophical movement Hauntology. Like the organizer of this project, Sonologyst, I too am a fan of Mark Fisher and have be molded to some degree by his book Ghosts of My Life named after the Japan song. Fisher and I are very close to the same age, or would be if hadn’t killed himself. When I first learned of his suicide I took it pretty hard. Partially because he was my age living my dream life while I was slaving in a restaurant after fucking up a damn mean unfuckupable teaching career. He was working with Wire magazine and writing about Joy Division and enjoying the luxury of going off on esoteric digressions. In other words, he was a genius and I’m … hopeful. I don’t know why he did it but our late stage capitalism had become a crushing devastating soul destroying force by then, 2017, and little did we know then how much worse was coming. I’m not suicidal but I don’t think there’s any reason for hope at this point. There’s more to life than politics though. And that’s not an insinuation that Fisher didn’t feel the same way. I’m serious about swearing off politics as much as I can to focus on my own survival. The global failure to put aside grotesque commercial consumerism, even in the face of covid and the environmental holocaust, and Trump, the failure to curb the murderous rage of the police (sorry for my Americancentrism but we’ve been through a lot). It’s all been too much. So much that perhaps its time to give up and enjoy the spectacle, time to picnic during the Lisbon Earthquake. Time to become apathetic Voltaires on top of the Dark Mountain. That’s my Gen-X plan, anyway.
It’s not a secondary concern whether or not this recording properly honors Fisher’s legacy. There’s been some musical evolution since his passing and there’s no reason for these artists to ignore that. I’m fact, by moving ahead acknowledges one of the most important futures that wasn’t lost. Although, I do feel like this music falls within the wide umbrella of ambient it avoids the pitfalls of the more specific labels. In particular, it’s not dark ambient. It’s more ethereal and ambiguous. Despite being a compilation I’m comfortable speaking of it as a solitary creation due to its fine coherence. It could not acknowledge The Ghosts of (His) Life any other way. I’m not sure if Sonologyst is sad or hopeful or intent on perseverance but to me this a powerful but sad homage to what has been lost, which is basically everything.
Warmth Highest 