'A Red Room/A Slow Dance' opens with a cluster of mysterious voices murmuring beneath droning synths and maudlin strings, punctured by sudden, jarring orchestral jolts; afterward, a more concise expression of weary moodiness sways to the forefront. 'The White Lady' emits a strangled cry, amidst eerie voices that ride the frozen wind through forests of unnerving dread; it is the cry of the supernatural, the cackle of witches, a chorus of fevers that never break. A macabre joviality is ambushed by mournful synths, only to be desecrated by cosmic debris of an electronic origin on 'An Event Near The Commons At Dusk.' The Witch Haven is a succinct, majestic, and slightly deranged climax to one of the most well-crafted, inventive series within music of any genre. ­JC Smith - Outburn The Witch Haven is part three in a series of albums by Shinjuku Thief, AKA electronicist/Dorobo label chief Darrin Verhagen; the previous volumes are The Witch Hammer and The Witch Hunter. Verhagen utilizes his interest in German expressionist film, atmospheric horror and the darker side of classical composition to create what the CD quite accurately labels a "Gothic orchestral soundscape." In other words, it's ambient classical music to creep out by. Verhagen writes truly haunting themes, the kind you play in the drawing room at dusk. "The gestation of elben" sounds like the music playing on the edge of the forest around four in the morning, as the fog settles and wait, what was that you just saw flickering in the corner of your eye? "A red room/A slow dance" combines already spooky ambient tones with subliminal whispers and laughter that will make every hair on the back of your neck stand up. "Father of Lies" adds a march rhythm for a piece that could accompany an army of orcs as it heads for battle; "Sign of the Eagle" is the sound of that army reaching the inn. "An event near the commons at dusk" lets in some light with a jaunty violin melody, but the freezing winds and strange, animalistic noises in the background yank the curtains shut again.