Rich Aucoin - Synthetic Season 2 '2023

Tracks list

On Synthetic: Season 2, Halifax pop artist and composer Rich Aucoin continues
his journey through the history of synthesizers. The second entry in his
quadruple LP series once again features an armada of the world’s most
rare, historic, and highly sought after electronic instruments. Gaining access
to the collections of Calgary’s National Music Centre and LA’s
Vintage Synthesizer Museum, Aucoin ran amok on machines to create four albums of
thrilling, transporting instrumental music. Each song on Synthetic: Season 2
conjures a world of its own, combining Aucoin’s melodic sensibilities
with textural, genre-agnostic experimentation. The album swerves into action
with the wiggling synths and thunderous drum breaks of “Wav”
– recorded on the Hammond Novachord from 1939 and considered the very
first analog, fully polyphonic synthesizer – stacking hooks like a
cinematic training montage as it climbs toward the first of many transcendent
conclusions. “Shift” changes course into eerie, frostbitten
industrial territory with rubbery beats that bounce like pogo sticks, switching
tempos unexpectedly and dissolving into skittering arrays of sound. The
squelching groove of “Pure” brings a touch of ’90s French
House, like Daft Punk jet-setting around the world. Six minutes pass in a flash
during this playful brain-dance. “Space” is a thumping banger built
upon chiming, subaquatic beats that slice through thick drones and filter disco
drops. Its passages of extraterrestrial techno tranquility will make you feel
like an astronaut floating in the inky void, making shapes in zero gravity. The
warbling synths of “Tech Noir” sing with a strangely human quality,
crossing over the uncanny valley into a sonic space that feels comforting in its
retro electronic nostalgia. Perhaps this is because its atmospheric sounds
arrived via the EMS VCS3 Prototype, used on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The
Moon. The jack hammering beats of “Roger Luther” – recorded
on the titular Moog directly in the National Music Centre while on exhibit drive
its dramatic synths forward at 1,000 mph. There’s a feeling of excitement
and danger, like you’re racing down the Autobahn with a ticking time bomb
in the back seat. “Lyra”, recorded on a Moog prototype also at NMC,
slows the pace with a pensive, watery melody, before the song transitions into
heavenly arpeggios from the school of Tangerine Dream’s ’80s
horror soundtracks, all while maintaining a hip-hop head nod.
“Prophet” launches Synthetic: Season 2 towards its final destination
with ominously proggy synth lines cresting into a majestic, shimmering
crescendo. Recorded with the Vako Orchestron – a floppy disc-fuelled
competitor to the Mellotron – it feels like you’ve arrived at the
gates of a fabled lost city. Finally, “Liminal” concludes the
journey with a soft drone, rising up with airy synths and submerged drums that
pump like a heartbeat. A strange new world is revealed, yet as you gaze around
at the beautiful, otherworldly surroundings, you won’t want to return to
reality just yet. - Jesse Locke 

Tracklist:
1.01 - Rich Aucoin - Wav (4:18)
1.02 - Rich Aucoin - Shift (4:19)
1.03 - Rich Aucoin - Pure (6:00)
1.04 - Rich Aucoin - Space (5:50)
1.05 - Rich Aucoin - Tech Noir (3:20)
1.06 - Rich Aucoin - Roger Luther (4:03)
1.07 - Rich Aucoin - Lyra (4:45)
1.08 - Rich Aucoin - Prophet (5:35)
1.09 - Rich Aucoin - Liminal (3:09)

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