In March 2020, Rich Aucoin flew out to Calgary, Alberta to begin work on his quadruple instrumental synth LP, Synthetic. Recorded at The National Music Centre during an artist residency, Aucoin laid the groundwork for the sum 40 tracks that will eventually make up the 3hrs of music for this album. Aucoin recorded many rare and one-of-a-kind synthesizers while there such as the famous T.O.N.T.O. (on many Stevie Wonder LPs as well as made famous with an album under its namesake) also made famous visually in Brian De Palma’s Phantom of The Paradise. For this Season in particular, Aucoin recorded the one-of-a-kind Roger Luther designed modular Moog. Like Tonto, Aucoin was given a few hours with the synthesizer while still on display in the museum and Aucoin created a piece out of hours of experimenting with the instrument. The end result is a track entitled after the instrument’s creator, ‘Roger Luther’, which sounds like early Kraftwerk or other early 70s Krautrock but with drum machines driving its relentless propulsion and its hyper saturated analogue crackling of its powerful synthesis.

Also in the collection at NMC is the world’s first analogue polyphonic synthesizer made surprisingly by Hammond of all instrument companies as they are known famously for their organs. But, in 1939, they made the Novachord which looks like an organ but sounds more like a Mellotron which came later and was made famous in the 1960s by bands like The Beatles. The Novachord provides the principle chordal warmth for the opener ‘Wav’ which sounds like a Dave Friddman produced instrumental cut from an early Tame Impala album. The iconic Moog lead introduces the first of the album’s melodies many of which are played on this iconic instrument the Model D.

The second track, ’Shift’, was built around recordings on the EML ElectroComp series of synthesizers which crackle and ring in full noisy glory. Its title is appropriate for its arrangement which continuously shifts forward in a linear fashion; only ever repeating its hook. ‘Pure’ continues this textural Tame Impala meets Todd Terje fabric while introducing the phasers of a Daft Punk track and a persistent hook again provided by a classic Moog synth. The track envelops over a sample created on a Lowrey Genie organ that Aucoin happened upon at an Air BnB and created the big Justice’s ‘Genesis’-sounding wall-of-sound bombast.

‘Space’ features the rare and powerful Freeman String Symphonizer giving the track this warmth offered by the synth’s staggering 25 oscillators. The track feverishly repeats its 8-bar progression with all the filters and cutoffs opening into a space echo the entire track as it pulses onward. A Daft Punk rhythm section with Caribou orchestration, the track is a standout for the album.

‘Tech Noir’, is a sister track to Season 1’s ‘Space Western’ and provides the album’s soundtrack selection which could be imaged playing in some film somewhere between Vangelis’ Blade Runner score or Kavinsky’s Drive. Its atmospheric layers were provided by the EMS VCS3 Prototype synth; the same model used by Pink Floyd on Dark Side of The Moon’s iconic track ‘On The Run’ which is performed with an old arcade-looking joystick rather than a keyboard. ‘Lyra’ features another prototype; the ultra-rare Moog Lyra for its thick bass and slide-theremin by Therevox combined with the Korg Lambda for the orchestral Morricone-sounding melody over this downtempo head-nodding equal parts trap and classical adjacent track in a swirling circle of 5ths and a major resolution in a Vivaldian manor.

‘Prophet’ could be an outtake from Justice’s 2007 masterpiece, Cross. A visceral synth palette is provided by the rare Vako Orchestron which is like a mellotron but used floppy discs as samples to build its sounds rather than tape-loops. Thick distorted Sequential Circuits Prophet bass is juxtaposed with synthesized flutes, string and brass playing baroque melodic counterpoint and arpeggiators. The album concludes this season with a transitional piece ‘Liminal’ in the style of Brian Eno’s early to mid-70s recordings, which layers some 20 synthesizers over one another, each only having their brief moment before fading away into the abyss; a signal of what’s to come in Seasons 3 & 4 when Aucoin is joined by a few hundred fellow synth players as they undertake a Guinness Book of World Records approved attempt at the largest drone recording while making Synthetic, in all its parts, the album with the most synthesizers ever recorded. This isn’t Aucoin’s first foray into collaboration as he had roughly 70s musicians on 2016’s Release and a 20,000 person choir on 2014’ Ephemeral and 550 collaborators on his first LP 2011’s We’re All Dying To Live.

Aucoin has been joined by long-time producing collaborator Joel Waddell as well as producer Gordon Huntley (Leaving Laurel) for this album and it marks the 4th album of Aucoin’s mixed by Howie Beck (Weather Station/Badbadnotgood/Buffy Sainte-Marie) and the 3rd album of Aucoin’s mastered by Noah Mintz (Broken Social Scene/Wolf Parade). The album also features the first recordings from Aucoin while at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles (run by Lance Hill which has been visited by Kevin Parker and the inspiringly prolific Toro Y Moi) more of those recordings to be featured on Seasons 3 & 4. The album is released by We Are Busy Bodies (Tom Dissevelt/Nucleus/Etubom Rex Willams). Aucoin performed all 48 synthesizers on the album which are displayed on the album’s cover created by Mat Dunlap (this is Dunlap’s 4th Aucoin album as well).