Ahead of retiring his current live show, Rich Aucoin has announced plans for a quadruple instrumental album titled Synthetic. It will arrive in four parts, spread over six-month intervals across two years. Today, the artist has unveiled details of Synthetic: Season 1, which arrives on October 19 via We Are Busy Bodies.
Despite releasing fourth studio album United States in the midst of the pandemic, recording sessions for Synthetic actually predate the 2020 record, with sessions at Calgary's National Music Centre beginning back in March 2020 just before the onset of the crisis.
"I didn't want that initial period of the pandemic to influence these songs which were already far along at the start of the lockdowns so I waited until the vaccines were announced before continuing with the work on this record," explained Aucoin.
The record finds Aucoin using Arp 2600s, the Supertramp-owned Elka Rhapsody 610 String Machine, Formanta Polivoks, Novatron T550, Oxford Synthesizer Company Oscar and Selmer Clavioline CM 8 — as well as the largest analogue synthesizer in the world, TONTO, which, among calling Canada home since 2014, has historically been featured on four albums by Stevie Wonder, Robin Hatch's more recent T.O.N.T.O., and now, this release from Aucoin. Its co-creator, Malcolm Cecil, just passed away in 2021.
The artist added of the instrumental collection: "Lyrics just take me so long to write that I just want to take a couple years to make other kinds of albums before going back to lyrical music as I can write instrumental music much faster."
The album's subsequent parts, Season 2, 3 and 4, are due to feature a "few hundred fellow synth enthusiasts" — and there's still room for hopeful contributors to lend a hand. Said Aucoin: "It's not too late as well, if anyone wants to be a part of this record, which will easily have more synths on it than any other record in history, just send me a DM on social media and I'll add you to the excel sheet of friends, fans and fellow synth nerds who have expressed interest to be on the record."
A pre-order campaign for the record allows fans to get their hands on Season 1 today, a whole five months in advance. Details on that can be found here. Otherwise, you can get a preview of the massive body of work with the Season 1 tracklist below.
Synthetic: Season 1:
Side A:
1. Tonto
2. Algorithm
3. Future
4. Buchla
5. Return
Side B:
6. Space Western
7. HyperNormalization
8. 456
9. Esc
Despite releasing fourth studio album United States in the midst of the pandemic, recording sessions for Synthetic actually predate the 2020 record, with sessions at Calgary's National Music Centre beginning back in March 2020 just before the onset of the crisis.
"I didn't want that initial period of the pandemic to influence these songs which were already far along at the start of the lockdowns so I waited until the vaccines were announced before continuing with the work on this record," explained Aucoin.
The record finds Aucoin using Arp 2600s, the Supertramp-owned Elka Rhapsody 610 String Machine, Formanta Polivoks, Novatron T550, Oxford Synthesizer Company Oscar and Selmer Clavioline CM 8 — as well as the largest analogue synthesizer in the world, TONTO, which, among calling Canada home since 2014, has historically been featured on four albums by Stevie Wonder, Robin Hatch's more recent T.O.N.T.O., and now, this release from Aucoin. Its co-creator, Malcolm Cecil, just passed away in 2021.
The artist added of the instrumental collection: "Lyrics just take me so long to write that I just want to take a couple years to make other kinds of albums before going back to lyrical music as I can write instrumental music much faster."
The album's subsequent parts, Season 2, 3 and 4, are due to feature a "few hundred fellow synth enthusiasts" — and there's still room for hopeful contributors to lend a hand. Said Aucoin: "It's not too late as well, if anyone wants to be a part of this record, which will easily have more synths on it than any other record in history, just send me a DM on social media and I'll add you to the excel sheet of friends, fans and fellow synth nerds who have expressed interest to be on the record."
A pre-order campaign for the record allows fans to get their hands on Season 1 today, a whole five months in advance. Details on that can be found here. Otherwise, you can get a preview of the massive body of work with the Season 1 tracklist below.
Synthetic: Season 1:
Side A:
1. Tonto
2. Algorithm
3. Future
4. Buchla
5. Return
Side B:
6. Space Western
7. HyperNormalization
8. 456
9. Esc