There’s a beauty to Colin Self’s voice that is inescapable, a shining sun cutting across uncertain emotions. Yet on “respite for the tulpamancer,” Self is unafraid to let a ghostly chill pass through the familiar magic they conjure vocally, aware that true insight often occurs in the shadows, where doubt finds a body. Invoking the idea of the tulpamancer, a Buddhist notion of someone capable of giving form to a spectral, sentient force with a will of its own, Self sets the tone for their forthcoming album respite ∞ levity for the nameless ghost in crisis: be prepared to hear from plenty of others finding their own way into this world, with Self serving as a collaborator to myriad ghostly figures.