Ekin Fil Being Near LP HMS 038 Psi Lab June 2016 Being Near is Ekin Fil's most engrossing work yet, it is the absolute perfection of her dirge-like dark ambient deep sleep dream pop, perhaps once indebted to Cocteau Twins and Grouper, but now having meticulously explored and established a territory all her own, as documented by previous efforts on highly regarded labels Root Strata and Students Of Decay, informed by the softer zoned sides of said "shoegazing classics" as well as Nico's The Marble Index and Desertshore, drawing some contemporary comparison to folks like Fursaxa, Raajmahal, and Zelienople -- Being Near is like some post-possession procession, as it hauntingly sets in like an eerie fog enveloping a cemetery, with a spine-tingling sense of apprehension betraying the surreal serenity, crossing the threshold from funereal into otherworldly, teetering toward netherworldly, as if the other side is but a narrow ledge that Ekin Fil dares to traverse -- Being Near is a vivid and compelling work that delves into a dichotomy of the hereafter, tranquility and trepidation, and neatly wraps it in a veil of gauzy slow motion elegance that's second to none. Highest possible recommendation.