New Age Voice -  Review by Jeff Johansen
(August 98)

THE SPECTRAL SHIPS
Richard Bone

      At first impression, The Spectral Ships marks a striking departure from Richard Bone's last several albums. Voice samples are very sparingly used (only on the first and last tracks), the characteristic pulsing, bassy electronic rhythm elements are absent, and the sardonic humor is missing. Spectral ships is the most ambient and subtle album in Bone's discography. The songs are quiet, mysterious, and eerie. It is darker and more introspective than Richard's other ambient effort "The Eternal Now".
The ambient audiophile will find some fresh and fascinating this album. The spooky electronic background in "Palantine" is overlaid with a sweet melancholy piano, the environmental treatments on "Nocturna" and "Fata Morgana" interweave with pseudo-environmental electronics such that origins of the sounds are murky and confusing, and the melodies of many of the tracks can be simultaneously dark and inspirational, an ambiguity delightful to my jaded ears. Richard Bone has created a work of sophistication and finesse, demonstrating again his originality among ambient music composers.
The Spectral Ships should please his fans and new listeners alike, and will play well on electronic, space, and ambient radio.
Instrumentation: Synthesizers, samplers, loops.