WEATHER BY TYCHO
Watching an artist grow is one of the most satisfying aspects of fandom. However, from the perspective of a long-time Tycho fan, Weather feels like an homage to Tycho’s roots whose risks don’t pay off.
After what felt like a million years (realistically only three), Tycho has released his fifth LP, Weather. Taking refuge in his San Francisco abode following his Epoch tour, electronic musician Scott Hansen set out to deviate from his signature sound, while simultaneously seeking a return to form.
Scott Hansen performing at Edgefield, Troutdale Oregon, 2017
Weather is Tycho true-to-form, while at the same time a departure from the trademark style that Scott Hansen has developed since Past is Prologue was released in 2006. Where Past is Prologue and Dive focused on synthesizers and drum machines, and Awake and Epoch brought instrumentation (specifically guitars) to the forefront, Weather introduces vocals prominently for the first time in his discography. For five out of the eight tracks on the album, guitars and synths are pushed to the background to highlight the vocals of guest artist Saint Sinner.
Zac Brown performing at Edgefield, Troutdale Oregon, 2017
Weather’s first track, Easy, is quintessential Tycho. Dreamy synth melodies, penetrating bass lines, and Rory O’Connor’s signature drumming call back to aspects of Awake while the intermittent vocalizations throughout are reminiscent of the vocal samples used in Dive. It’s thought-provoking, the kind of music that makes you reflect on the world around you and turns your surrounding environment into a music video. It’s an appetizer to Weather that leaves you hungry for more introspection.
Pink & Blue is the first track on the album where Saint Sinner takes the spotlight. Her airy, delicate vocals go hand-in-hand with Tycho’s music. It’s a seemingly harmonious marriage of sounds that make you wonder why Hansen hadn’t considered bringing a vocalist into the band earlier. Tycho’s dreamy soundscapes were made for her voice.
But then you listen to the lyrics:
Oh, pink and blue
You know I look good on you
Don't hold me like you
Got something you can lose
Oh, pink and blue
You know I look good on you
Oh, yes, it's true
I'm somethin' you won't lose
Oh, pink and blue, yeah
- Pink & Blue, Tycho and Saint Sinner
Official music video for Pink & Blue, by Tycho
The lyrics take the mentally stimulating sounds that Tycho is known for and catalyzes devolution. The lyrics are elementary, superficial, and consequentially hurl the track into the pop genre. It’s antithetical to the project’s evolution as electronic music. It’s paradoxical. Tycho has carved his own unique sound for over a decade by pushing boundaries and blending genres, only to end up producing commercialized pop music for the masses. Not only does the lyrical content diminish the artistry behind the music, but Pink & Blue also uses cookie-cutter song structure that forces the question: who is this album for?
Skate illustrates this regression the most. What starts off as a promising piece of emotional, provocative music devolves into something that feels better suited for the next Taylor Swift or Rita Ora single.
Dangerous, I like to keep it a little bit dangerous
Won't be too good for love
I'm serious, I like to keep it a little less serious
Am I too good for love?
Oh, baby, breathe now
Roll down the window
No conversation, no conversation
Oh, feel the breeze now
Roll down the window
Don't complicate it, complicate it
- Skate, Tycho and Saint Sinner
Perhaps I’m being too harsh. There are a couple of gems on the album (Easy, Into the Woods, and Weather) but unfortunately, the album just doesn’t go anywhere. There is no identifiable climax. No golden thread that ties the tracks together thematically. Only a confusing jumble of disjointed intentions that sort of just fades out (literally) of existence.
The final track off of Weather fades out without resolve.
Without risk, there is no growth. The music of today wouldn’t exist if artists of the past didn’t take risks. But the reality is: it just doesn’t work out sometimes. And in the case of Weather, the risk that Tycho took feels like his discography’s Achilles’ Heel.
Take a listen to Weather below:
