"Written and performed by Erik Carlson and Jeff Knoch, “Haunt” is a wonderful free-spirited ride across an ocean of possibilities. Recording under the name of Area C, the duo have created a Farfisa dominated sound that is unstructured enough to allow the imagination to fill in the blanks, yet filled with enough melody and continuity to allow the pieces to be fully enjoyed, without fear of total sonic collapse. First track “Outside The Flaming Body” has the feel of a stoned sea-shanty, slow and sometimes distant, whilst the title track has a more underground feel, as if exploring caverns you remember from your childhood. Lasting less that three minutes “Names Of Places” is a charming piece of psychedelic electronica, as sweet as a glimpse of a kingfisher on the riverbank, and a welcome treat before the 20 minute “Circle Attractor parts 1+2”. A track that takes the listener on a journey through time, with part one being a space soaked drone that leads into the crackling eerieness of part two, the band slowing thing down so that we can listen to our heart beats."
--Rumbles / Terrascope

"You know a release is going to be a good listen when the musicians involved can come up with so many ways to describe their Farfisa organs– lead, circular, chord, bass, fuzz, pulse, smooth… but of course, I had some initial doubts that an album primarily featuring only two of the same organ could carry the day.

I’m happy to say that I was wrong. The Tangerine Dream yawn-fest that this could have become never materialized, and I was instead treated to five flavors of Farfisa goodness.

In this incarnation, Area C is Erik Carlson and Jeff Knoch. The unstated arrangement seems to be that Carlson provides the eerily organic drones and understated field recordings, which Knoch embroiders with his unique approach to the keys– like red-shifted video of ancient bird flocks.

It’s a pleasant, but productive dynamic between these two that makes the album work– and as obvious a statement as this may seem, I think it’s important to note. When “Haunt” succeeds most, it is because of unexpected tension. Check the back half of the 20-minute “Circle Attractor,” where Knoch’s Farfisa conjures medical equipment and Carlson introduces mystery sounds not unlike a crackling fire or a rat in a the wastebasket, if you don’t believe me.

This is definitely a niche release– it’s too introspective for impatient listeners, and never really builds to any sort of cliched crescendo moment that lurks at the end of so many drone sets. It probably also isn’t going to reap a lot of praise from those who like their keyboards complex, hulking, and full of intricately-cabled patch work."
--Startling Moniker

Haunt is a swirl of Farfisas organs, loops, stretched-out guitar, and the fragmented, fractured beats of an analog drum machine and tube amplifier static. The album was recorded by Erik Carlson & Jeff Knoch late 2005.  What began as a plan to record a dual-Farfisa album (both Erik & Jeff are Farfisa aficionados) quickly and organically turned into much more. The two musicians convened and over the course of two brief sessions spun out a sequence of songs whose repetitions and details hold much more than the surfaces first reveal. These spontaneous compositions emerged fully formed with barely a pause to switch tape, the only addition being a similarly inspired track recorded live on a radio performance in early 2006.

While Jeff hasn't appeared on previous AREA C releases, he has been a frequent collaborator with Erik for AREA C's live performances where they take the spirit of Erik's meticulous recordings and draw them out to new depths. Haunt is a snapshot of this collaborative and spontaneous process captured on tape for the first time, showing another side to AREA C's deep exploration of sound.

The title haunt refers to frequented places or states of mind, places we return to again and again, sometimes obsessively, sometimes in a somnambulistic trance. These are not ghost stories, but we can't deny the unexplained other's spectral presence (as in so many of AREA C's compositions).  The title was originally inspired by a book of the same name by poet Keith Waldrop. Remnants of other times and places, outdated technologies, signals sent out but never received -- this is the bed over which Erik & Jeff layered their revolving organ lines and pulses. The results are mesmerizing.