Ghost Tropic is an album that will either leave you completely transfixed or very bored and confused. The music is intense. The hypnotic build of “The Body Burned Away” is a marvel, a pressure cooker of controlled tension as singer Jason Molina repeats the title with little variation, allowing the percussion and the firm guitar chords to deliver the fatal blow. The entire album is one long slow progression into the sea of futility. For some, this minimalist approach will lack variety but for fans of Neil Young’s On the Beach or the quietest moments of Bonnie “Prince” Billy or the ambient soundscapes of latter day Talk Talk, Jason Molina and his forever altering cast of backing musicians perform music that rewards the somber and the patient. The music is audacious without ever being “difficult” or aggressive. It lingers in the air like a thick, ominous fog. Sometimes it ticks like a timebomb (“The Ocean’s Nerves”). A career highlight.