Chicago resident and electronic minimalist musician Steve Hauschildt experiments with introspection on his new record, Dissolvi. Reducing the self leads to viewing the world as it is and not as you wish it to be (the first step in the Eightfold Path). Through this record, Hauschildt tries to do just that and encourages us to do the same.
The title of the opening track, “M Path,” is a play on “empathy” – someone who can sense emotional states. It’s bubbly and curious, perhaps as it might be if one could instinctively tap into another’s emotions. Hauschildt’s synths float around you like jellyfish throughout the track. “Phantox” dials down the curiosity to meditative introspection. The quiet dance floor bass thumps are even restrained as they remind you of an excited pulse. “Saccade” is restful yet seductive, especially with Julianna Barwick‘s guest vocals that snuggle up to you like a cat.
The seven-minute “Alienself” lands in the middle of the record and is an interesting view on Hauschildt’s vision of himself. Don’t we all feel alien at some point(s) in our lives? We feel like we don’t belong or are witnessing things so bizarre that they are hard to fathom. This can happen every day if you watch the news. Thankfully, Hauschildt takes the right approach by embracing this alien within and looking at the world with outsider’s eyes. The song floats along with the same curiosity found on “M Path,” but with a bit of a more playful sound with popping bass and toned down dance synths.
“Aroid” is the soundtrack of replicant dreams, or the ambient music playing on the ship taking you to the off-world colonies. Dance beats take front stage on “Syncope,” and I think it’s impossible to sit still during the song. Not that it’s a floor-filler or a club banger. It’s subtle dance music. That’s probably the best way I can describe it. “Lyngr” is another excellent “subtle dance” track, but with faster beats and synths that pop all around you. The bass on the title track is so fuzzed out that it sounds like the footsteps of an electric giant.
It’s a lovely record, and certainly one of the most upbeat ambient albums of the year (and who even knew there were such things). It will help you dissolve out of whatever doldrums you’re experiencing at the moment and at least bring you into the present long enough to change your outlook.
Keep your mind open.
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