Tycho – Epoch (Ghostly International)

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What sounds and images do the words ‘ambient electronic music’ conjure in your mind?’ To many, I’m sure the answer is along the lines of ‘high-floating, tempo-less experimental synth chords, over a hazily morphing blob of colour not unlike an inoffensive default screensaver’. I’ll grant you, that is one side of the genre. But on the other side, there is Tycho’s Epoch, the fourth in an evolving series of albums borne from the mind of Scott Hansen.

Starting as a part-time bedroom production project, Tycho has grown into a four piece live band, a change that can be tracked sonically across their albums. Hansen has gradually been adding energy and tempo to the project, moving from the heady synths of the Dive album, into the driving baselines of Awake, and finally, to the almost drum-centric Epoch. This is the quality that makes Tycho stand out as an ambient project, a compelling energy that doesn’t overpower its inherent ambient qualities. An electronic band that holds, but doesn’t demand, the ear’s attention.

The opening track Glider sets the tone for Epoch, a coy synth intro interrupted by a low rolling drum beat, with a plucked baseline to meet the drum’s rhythmic pace. The track has a well paced ebb and flow, drums step back giving the synthesisers a moment to float high up and hover, before gliding back down into energetic hi-hat patterns.

Epoch also demonstrates some of Tycho’s ability for experimentation, with two tracks, Slack and Division, in 7/4 time,  an uncommon time signature for the band, and for the ambient genre as a whole. Slack in particular carries the 7/4 rhythms especially well, making you bob your head in an sedative offbeat pattern. It is simultaneously fascinating and calming, and consequently, is a personal favourite on the album.

Curiously enough, the eponymous track of the album, Epoch, is the one that feels like its strays the least from the feel of Tycho’s previous albums. With its dominant layers of synthesiser and comparatively simple drum rhythms, the track could be equally at home on Tycho’s previous album, Awake. It is a compelling track, and doesn’t feel out of phase with the rest of the album, but I’m not convinced that it speaks for the album as a whole, as its name would suggest.

Local is a track of particular note, as it captures best the ‘band’ element of this new Tycho lineup. The track feels like an enthusiastic jam session, with different instruments making space for each other to speak, trading melodies, with an overall collaborative feel.

The album slows towards the end of its track list, letting the listener down gently. The drums are more subdued, taking on an almost house-music-esque quality in the penultimate Continuum, as if they have spent all their energy, and are making way for the rest of the band to lead out. Field is the final piece of the album, a melancholic meditation on guitars and synthesisers bringing the album to a gentle close, with a slight rising distorted feedback in the last few seconds that is cut short in a way that implies ‘we’ll be back’.

Epoch never feels too far removed from humanity. So much with electronic music, the human quality of music is lost among button pressing and programming, and on some level, sometimes only subconsciously, we can feel this. There is something ethereally organic about Epoch and Tycho, that makes it feel human and puts the ear at ease. Epoch could be the soundtrack to your next great acid/road trip and I highly recommend it to all electronic music fans as well as anyone in need of an aurally delivered chill pill.

AJ Mac

The 13th Floor
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