After his recent Grammy Award nomination for "Best Dance/Electronic Album," Scott Hansen (aka Tycho) wastes no time following up the critical success of Weather with his latest project, Simulcast.
While Weather saw Tycho explore new grounds alongside vocalist Saint Sinner, the latest LP from the San Francisco producer is a homecoming that welcomes him back to his more abstract roots. Simulcast delivers on Hansen's promise to fans to provide an instrumental version of Weather that would complement the original and built on its foundation.
In a press release, Hansen revealed the intent behind the album: "A simulcast is the transmission of a program across different mediums and in different languages. With these two albums, I wanted to present the same ideas in two languages, one more literal and the other more open to interpretation. Simulcast expands on the concepts laid out in Weather, but shifts into the abstract with instrumental soundscapes in place of lyrics, opening up a visual space and translating the message into a new language."
Indeed, this kind of musical re-engineering and re-imagining is what makes Tycho such a master at what he does. Tracks like "PCH" and "Stress," mirrors of Weather's "Pink & Blue" and "No Stress," sound familiar, but proceed to take on new direction and sonic texture with each listen. In this way, Simulcast delights and provides some of Hansen's most creative and inspired work.
Between the two languages — the literal and the figurative — Hansen finds his best work in the land of interpretation, masterfully carving out the physical and visual boundary of music's equivalent to the horizon line. He provides perspective, stability, vision and a vanishing point or point of convergence that focuses on the creation of space through sound. Abstract? Yes. But Tycho purists wouldn't have it any other way. Simulcast is a shining and beautifully crafted album that reaffirms Hansen's hold atop of 21st century ambient electronic.
