Solvent – New Ways – Music From The Documentary “I Dream Of Wires” 2xLP + 7″

Suction Records is pleased to present Solvent‘s sixth full-length LP, “New Ways: Music From the Documentary I Dream of Wires”.  Solvent is the venerable recording alias of Toronto’s Jason Amm and after more than a decade of releasing music through esteemed labels Ghostly International and Morr Music, “New Ways” marks the return of Solvent to his own Suction Records label with his first album for the label since 1999.

For the past 3 years, Solvent’s obsession with synthesizers and electronic music has taken him on a new path, a journey deep into the world of modular synthesizers.  Serving as producer, co-writer and interviewer for “I Dream Of Wires”, a documentary about the history, demise and resurgence of the modular synthesizer, Solvent’s Jason Amm has played a pivotal role in creating one of the most talked-about and revered electronic music documentaries in recent years.

Before he came on board as producer, Solvent was commissioned by the I Dream of Wires’ director to create an original soundtrack for the film.  At the time, Solvent’s relationship with modular synthesizers was conflicted.  Of course he had long been lured by these elusive, esoteric machines but was also weary and wondered if these instruments would be a step away from music making and more toward a lifetime of expensive, obsessive tinkering.  So many electronic musicians have fallen into the modular “black hole”, never to be heard from again.  Solvent took on the soundtrack LP as a challenge; determined to expand his synthesis palette with the new possibilities of modular but with a firm focus on completing a body of work.  The result is New Ways, which is heard prominently throughout the film and was created, programmed and composed entirely on modular synthesizer systems. Through some generous loans, Solvent was given access to several large-format modulars during the course of the album, including a classic vintage Moog System 15.  But the real revelation came from his own newly-acquired, contemporary Eurorack system; for the first time in many years, Solvent found himself thinking outside the “vintage synth” box.

TRACKLISTING:

A1. King Vincent

A2. Transfer Function

B1. Burn The Tables

B2. Sender

C1. Elephant Generators

C2. Bucket Brigade

D1. Quantimations

D2. LPGs Over Hawaii

D3. Transfer Function (Reprise)

E1. Themogene (I Dream Of Wires Theme)

F1. Pattern Recognition