Photo Credit: Riley Smith
With “more synths than any other in recorded history”.
Canadian electronic artist Rich Aucoin has just unveiled new details about his upcoming 4-part LP, ‘Synthetic’. The release of the first installment is scheduled for October, via the Toronto-based We Are Busy Bodies imprint.
The album’s life began at The National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta in March 2020, which houses one of the world’s most extensive collections of rare and historic synthesizers. Aucoin was there to take part in the center’s ‘Artist In Residence’ program and recorded 51 synthesizers to begin the project, which was subsequently paused at the start of the pandemic.
Aucoin’s ‘Synthetic’ is divided into four ‘Seasons’, with each one coming out over 6-month intervals, spanning over a 2-year period. ‘Synthetic: Season 1’ will see Aucoin playing some 37 synthesizers, including the Arp 2600s, the Supertramp-owned Elka Rhapsody 610 String Machine, Formanta Polivoks, Novatron T550, Oxford Synthesizer Company Oscar, Selmer Clavioline CM 8 and the legendary TONTO on which the first track on the record was made.
In the coming months, Aucoin will be unveiling new details about the reminding ‘Seasons’, but we know they will feature a “few hundred fellow synth enthusiasts” — and there’s still room for contributors to lend a hand, with Rich putting out a call to anyone who wants to collaborate to get in touch with him.
In line with the announcement, Aucoin also shared the first glimpse into ‘Synthetic’ with the release of ‘Algorithm’.
Listen to Rich Aucoin’s ‘Algorithm’ below.
