Review: Tycho — ‘Awake’

By Kyle Garcia
Music Reviewer

Artist: Tycho
Album: Awake
Released: March 18, 2014
Label: Ghostly International
Website: http://tychomusic.com/

Enter the world of San Francisco-based ambient artist and producer Tycho who since enticing audiences with an array of visuals, in-depth sounds and rich facets of modern electronic music has again reached preliminary status with the release of “Awake,” his fourth studio album.

Scott Hansen employs serene emphasis on tone and atmospheric texture as each song carries with it calm fortitude that shelters unobtrusive quality. The album is rich with breathtaking and luminous saturation captured by echoing guitar and synthesizers, held together by sharp rhythm and sonorous bass that resemble a dreamscape.

Expansive in melody, Hansen’s mood of the record takes listeners on an excursion from beginning to end, delivering emotional insight along with vividly painted landscapes creating stillness and placidity. From the opening spacious phrasing of the guitar line in “Awake” that evokes an arid tone resembling emptiness and introspection, to the melancholic synth in “Dye” show that Hansen’s careful selection of notes simplistically constructs a natural flow from one song to the next, proving a better display of the warm charismatic color that is “Awake.”

All together “Awake” is beautifully cohesive and attributes eight songs that resonate and show tranquil interpretation. The album is a perfect blend of live instrumentation layered with virtual shimmering synths that is refreshing and crisp upon listening.

Aside from the vibe, “Awake” presents itself with a lack eccentricity, but the songs overall show signs of more intricacy to detail as the methods of production and assembly take Tycho’s release to a new ambitious platform. Go ahead and dive into the soothing and blissful world of “Awake.”