TYCHO – Dive (Part 4)

Q: Dude, seriously. WTF is Emmanuelle 8?

A: “Hot scene sicak sexy seksi.”

oh.

Tycho – “Epigram”

From: Zach Evans
To: André Salas

André

I thoroughly enjoyed your deeper dive into this album (ha!). The fact that we favored different tracks indicates to me that there is more variety in the album than we initially suspected. Or perhaps it indicates that we are slowly becoming connoisseurs of soft electronica, which is both an awesome and terrifying thought.

I will say, I have been impressed by how repeated, careful listening to an album does lead to a greater level of appreciation for, or at least understanding of, artists like Tycho, who fall outside of my usual playlists. I had a throwaway line in my last email about how electronica is “clearly a genre that rewards attentiveness,” and that has absolutely proven true of Dive. It sounds like after much… meditation… on the album, you are of the same opinion.

Speaking of your taste in art, I was not familiar with Emmanuelle 8 so I Googled it, and the top results were clips from a Turkish pornographic video (the description claims it is “hot scene sıcak sexy seksi,” and I concur). Also, this very discussion made it into the top five results, which is amazing. I am going to make up a movie called, oh, Galapagos 17, and see how quickly we can get to the top of the Google results for that phrase.

Getting back to Tycho, I don’t know quite how he stacks up to the other musicians in this genre, but after listening to Dive all week I genuinely want to know. It’s a testament to the quality of the album that it has pulled me into this electronic world and made me want to see what else is out there.

Ending with an epigram,
Zach

Tycho – “Ascension”

From: André Salas
To: Zach Evans

Oh Zach,

I feel we are coming to the end of this delightful series of missives, and although it will hurt to let you go, we have certainly done Tycho’s Dive the justice it deserves. And I think we’re both saying “this is a solid record, give it a try if you’re into that kinda thing, or better yet, even if you’re not usually”. Hell, isn’t art supposed to push, provoke and expand our narrow little minds?

Speaking of which, checking out Mr. Scott Hansen’s work as a graphic designer (BTW, what is it with these basically one-man side projects that hide behind a cryptic moniker? M83 and Class Actress come to mind) and his declaration that the songs are envisioned by him to be almost broken up into movements, helped me further come to grips with Dive. Damned if I haven’t done this much work to “get” a record since I tried to make myself an authority on experimental jazz to get tail from the icy blonde sax player across the hall in college. Only this time I was rewarded, perhaps not by juicy midwestern tail, but rather by a genuine music experience; and that feeling I actually learned a little about something I normally wouldn’t have made the effort to.

But enough patting myself on the back, when is Tycho doing a remix album? Working with Gaga? And when the heck is Emmanuelle 8 going into principal photography? (I must wholeheartedly recommend the 5th installment, in case you’re interested.)

Time to Spotify some Sarah Brightman for now, but no reason we can’t do this again soon. I’ll be waiting.

Diving out,
André

Dive is out now via Ghostly International.