The Caretaker’s 'An Empty Bliss Beyond This World' Turns 10: How the Haunted Ballroom Defined a Generation

Faded photographs line up behind an abandoned bar, the bottles on the shelves long ago emptied of their contents, leaving behind only small glass statues. The floor creaks, the building settles, cracked velvet-colored wallpaper fades from layers of dust. You are old now—or imagine you are—and yet you can still hear the crooning of brass horns and the clinking of piano keys from the main stage, overlooking tables long since devoid of the life they used to service. The music keeps calling back to you, and suddenly you are young again—or imagine you are—and the room glows with a golden accent again. A beautiful woman you cannot remember—your wife?—beckons to you from the bar, once again stocked and ready for the bustling crowd all around you. For a brief moment you feel home again, warm and safe and loved, and desperately you try to make this fleeting memory last for eternity. 

This is the haunted ballroom, the sonic realm of British ambient composer Leyland James Kirby, the man behind the Caretaker moniker and now, inexplicably, one of the most famous ambient musicians of his generation. Ambient musicians aren’t meant to become famous, and particularly Kirby, in his experimental deconstructions of old sampled ballroom music, is perhaps the last musician you would expect to gain any significant recognition. 

Leave a Comment