Volume 1 by ZÆN
After spending years producing music in electronic-rock bands with no limitations or boundaries with how we made the music, we made the concerted decision to strip away all the conveniences of the digital world and get our hands dirty on actual hardware.
This was mainly because, at the end of the day, all of those modern conveniences end up being attenuators to actual creative momentum. Whether it be getting lost in a sea of never ending soft synths to choose from, or spending countless hours troubleshooting issues related to updates, upgrades, compatibilities and authorizations - we were ready to simplify.
Zæn Volume 1 is the product of that simplification.
Written using a semi-modular rig consisting of analog hardware and analog effects, we set out to create music incorporating the ethos & methodologies of earlier bands like Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and DEVO but with some of the modern conveniences of MIDI, patch recall and DAW audio recording and arranging. Decisions were made as they made sense and did not impede creative momentum. But, ultimately, we stuck to our self-imposed boundaries and all sounds, including the drums and percussive elements were made on hardware and all vocal elements were processed through hardware vocoders.
From this experiment of tethering ourselves to older methodologies and mixing together older and newer technologies, we found that somewhere between Kraftwerk and Skinny Puppy, lies Zæn.
Tracklist
| 1. | Hubris Creeps | 1:26 |
| 2. | Outer World | 6:10 |
| 3. | A.I. | 5:04 |
| 4. | Robots | 6:42 |
| 5. | Into the Undrone | 14:20 |
| 6. | La Vita Amara | 6:27 |
| 7. | Virus | 4:57 |
| 8. | Happy | 1:22 |
| 9. | 3rd Eye of the Storm | 10:08 |
Credits
Ben Thomas - Programming, Production, Vocals
Zach Solem - Programming, Production, Vocals
Marcel Bellve - Mastering
Danielle Wilcox - Graphics
