A few things got me hooked into hunting this one down. Firstly, the fabulously descriptive 'memowakeman' review simply found a whole lot of resonance with me, the melancholia and the folkish feel are perennial soft spots for my ears. Second, I am a 'johnny come lately' to the Anathema phenomenon, working my way from today to before, subsequent to a chance September 2012 concert in Budapest that just blew my mind. Thirdly, a pure white misty cover always seems to seduce my attention (my first ever LP was the Beatles White album and my all-time favorite recording is the Strawbs "Hero & Heroine"). My car is white too! Ion is a real head shaker, really askance from the Anathema style, with no harmonic guitar wallops here. The style is more romantic, melancholic, pastoral veering towards Gothic and Celtic with little guitar electricity, in fact the main instrumental weapon is mandolin, which is never a bad thing in my book. Distant hints at Clannad, Shine Dion and Dead Can Dance, but that tells only a little of the true nature of the spectral music presented here. Contemplative without being boring, enchantingly dynamic and serenely profound, Ion is a shimmering sheen on a tranquil lake, the sun caressing the browning leaves. When people ask me "what's the big deal with prog", I always seem to answer "it's a sonic travelogue, a musical picture postcard", which is why it is so wholly suited to the art of movie soundtracks. This is a fine example of that premise, as English, Romanian and Spanish are used to convey the adventure.