Steve Hauschildt announces new ‘song cycle’ Strands

The celebrated synthesist returns to the Chicago label in October with music inspired by “the movement of rivers.”

Last month saw the welcome news Kranky were adding Forma to their ranks for the Brooklyn trio’s third album and first since founding member Sophia Lam was replaced by RVNG associate John Also Bennett. With Forma’s Physicalist due out next month, Kranky have now revealed an old label hand will further add to their 2016 profile in the shape of former Emeralds man Steve Hauschildt who has a new album brewing under the name Strands. We say album, but the feline-loving synth fiend prefers to describe eight-track set as a song-cycle with the following detailed description offered by Hauschildt regarding his inspiration:

“Strands is a song cycle that is about cosmogony and creation/destruction myths. The title alludes to the structural constitution of ropes as I wanted to approach the compositions so that they consisted of strands and fibers which form a unified whole. This was so the songs could have the appearance of being either taut or slack without being fundamentally locked to a grid. So the sounds/tones have a certain malleability to them and sound like they’re bending through time. It’s also grittier and more distorted than my previous albums.

I wanted to try and capture that moment in nature and society where life slowly reemerges through desolation, so it has a layer of optimism looming underneath. The music represents this by seemingly decaying at times but then reforms and morphs in a fluid way back to its original state. I was also inspired by the movement of rivers, particularly their transformative aspect and how they’re in a state of flux and change, in particular the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland where I live, which notoriously caught on fire thirteen times because of industrial pollution in the 1960s and before.

I was very interested in the dichotomy of oil and water and the resulting, unnatural symptoms of human industry. It’s a very personal record for me as it is a reflection of my hometown where I grew up and where it was mostly recorded.”

For their part, Kranky describe Strands as a series of “graceful compositions” with the title track available to stream in full below.

Kranky will release Strands by Steve Hauschildt on October 28.

Tracklisting:

1. Horizon of Appearances
2. Same River Twice
3. A False Seeming
4. Ketracel
5. Time We Have
6. Strands
7. Transience of Earthly Joys
8. Die in Fascination

Kranky on Juno

Header image courtesy of Leigh Silverblatt