Tycho – Awake

Producing music under the name of Tycho, Scott Hansen is an electronic musician and artist from Sacramento, California. His latest album, “Awake,” was released on March 18 of this year. It has been nearly two full years since the last full album release, “Dive,” which was unveiled in September of 2012.

Tycho makes music with a strong West Coast chillwave influence. This includes the use of ocean sounds and song titles relating to the coast, the mountains, and the feelings associated with these natural landscapes. Tycho is able to produce full length albums that captivate listeners throughout. While it might be foreseen that eight or ten electronic songs from the same artist back-to-back would become tiresome, Tycho is able to interject the proper amount of intriguing sounds to keep listeners engaged. Tycho is definitely on the ambient side of electronic music — there will be no bass drops or extended heavy beats in any of his music. Rather, Tycho blends calming nature sounds, female voices, and a mixture of harmonies to conclude with a thoughtful blend of serenity and excitement. This music is absolutely perfect for walking outside on a warm spring day, or simply studying for an exam. While this opinion may be a bit forward, the style of music that Tycho creates may perhaps be the classical music of our generation. It is mostly lyricless, melody driven, flowing effortlessly from one song to the next.

Scott Hansen has also established himself as a credible artist. He designs his own cover art for his album releases as well as many additions prints. His theme is a beautiful blend of saturated and warmly sun-drenched blues and oranges. Hansen has a very interesting blog where he posts all of his artwork, his music, and links to music that inspires his creative process. His artwork is promoted under the professional name ISO50, spurring from the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) which is the governing body on a numeric system intended to measure photograph film’s sensitivity to light and characterize film stock speeds. This blog is worth a glance at in order to gain some exposure to Hansen’s artwork.

Tycho. ISO50. Hansen. This man has a gift when it comes to combining multiple art forms across very different media, and synthesizing his vision into a comprehensive product. One manifests in the form of sound, while the other is visual. Together, his art and his music enhance one another and unveil a collectively enchanting composition.