THE LIGHTHOUSE (JACK HERTZ & CHRISTIAN FIESEL)

Electronic artists Jack Hertz and Christian Fiesel have delivered numerous collaborative works together over the years, and their 2018 release proves to be one of their most special yet. `The Lighthouse' reveals itself to be an evocative title to be taken in both a literal sense and metaphorical interpretation, so while on the surface it's an exploration of beaches, mountains, ports and faraway places between land and sea, the various improvisations here also score a series of dark and unpredictable environments often punctuated with light and solace. Despite the release being a double CD, the duo stress that the album tracks are best played in a random order, with each piece being its own standalone soundtrack, and musically it blurs a range of vintage and modern electronic styles with experimental touches into unhurried arrangements.

Looking at some of the highlights, the ringing distorted rising/falling slivers, swirling effects and lulling drones of `Birds Nest at the Coastline' call to mind the early `Krautrock'-era Tangerine Dream albums, and the lightly psychedelic `Frozen Coast' is dreamy n' drowsy with no shortage of twitching electronic wisps. Soothing ambient caresses that pepper `Giant Lens' are flecked with jaggedly cavernous unease and pulsing loops, and the ethereal hums of `Heaven's Slide' weave between a backdrop of field recordings of steam powered vessels to craft an evocative soundworld.

The shimmering `Inlet Bay' is a frequently graceful space-music drift, `Outer Banks' a droning sound-collage of alien intrigue and stormy ambience, the gentle cooing synths alongside low-key Mellotron choirs of `Pier to Faraway Places' are delicate and reflective with an aching longing, and `Surf' is a restless Berlin School thriller of bubbling synths and shades of Tangerine Dream's classic `Phaedra'. Twenty-minute title track `The Lighthouse' is languidly hallucinogenic and completely enveloping, a fog of precious chimes, skittering fizzes and groaning Mellotron choirs that stretch on into infinity, and when it becomes fraught with little ghostly haunting touches and traces of a lethargic unease, it proves to be a masterclass in subtly increasing drama and growing unrest.

Challenging but not impenetrable, measured but never aimless, `Lighthouse' blurs multiple electronic styles into a kaleidoscope of aural delights that delivers endless moments of supreme beauty, deep contemplative immersion and even fascinating disquiet, and Hertz and Fiesel have delivered a stunning and unpredictably trippy ambient work of mind-bending prog-electronic beauty.

Four stars.