13 tracks. Running time 72:32 The curiously named Mara's Torment is Canadian musician Rik MacLean whose ambient music has apparently been described as “studies [of] the darker side of the human psyche”. mt96061 is a limited edition compilation of ten years work between 1996 and 2006, including new and previously unreleased material. Though this album has been released as a double CD my review is based on just one disc containing the first thirteen tracks. Opening the album is the simply titled “new song” which quickly became my favourite. A springy refrain, ticking percussion, and rhythmic drum section plays out against soughing warm vocally tinged pads. And if it's not just my imagination there's a slight sensual quality to this piece as well. There's a kind of night-time or dreamy atmosphere to many of the tracks, though none of them are dark in the sense of being overtly scary. Some are a little eerie though. In “Skin Irritant” washes and pads slowly build in intensity and tempo before being joined by a ghostly melody. My mind started to build an image of walking through an empty midnight landscape with only a few trees or buildings. After repeated listening sessions mt96061 has grown on me. Rik has constructed music with a unique simplicity and subtlety which has a haunting quality that could be used for the soundtrack to a psychological thriller. Most tracks are based around a flowing/drifting structure but a few, such as the opener, include rhythms. The longest piece aptly called “Absently Gazing Out” has stately gentle glissandoes and a throbbing backdrop which gradually rise to a apex like the top of a rounded hill before easing down. Only a monomaniac could have a chance at keeping up with all the music just in the niche ambient genre, let alone any others. So yet again I find myself encountering an artist for the first time even though Mara's Torment has been around for some time. If the offerings on mt96061 are anything to go by then sadly I've missed out all those years.