Landing neatly between the worlds of Justice and Dan Deacon, with just a touch of 2010s Dan Snaith, Rich Aucoin's Synthetic Season 2, the second of four instrumental albums — made using about 40 synths from both Calgary's National Music Centre and L.A.'s Vintage Synthesizer Museum — is an evolution of the Halifax-based musician's explorations found in the JUNO-nominated Season 1.
Removed from the tangles of lyric writing, Aucoin is free to probe the depths of the universe on Season 2, getting especially celestial on "Space" (duh) and "Pure," as well as "Tech Noir," which nearly treads into Homework's post-disco territory, whilst employing the EMS VCS3 Prototype, used on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It twinkles and booms, and it's all just vibey and dancey enough to tap into something spiritual, feeling less like robotics and more like alchemy.
(We Are Busy Bodies)Removed from the tangles of lyric writing, Aucoin is free to probe the depths of the universe on Season 2, getting especially celestial on "Space" (duh) and "Pure," as well as "Tech Noir," which nearly treads into Homework's post-disco territory, whilst employing the EMS VCS3 Prototype, used on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. It twinkles and booms, and it's all just vibey and dancey enough to tap into something spiritual, feeling less like robotics and more like alchemy.